The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish individuals agreed to go undercover to expose a network behind unlawful commercial establishments because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they state.

The two, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish investigators who have both lived lawfully in the UK for many years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish crime network was operating convenience stores, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of the UK, and sought to learn more about how it worked and who was participating.

Armed with covert cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to work, looking to buy and run a mini-mart from which to trade illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to uncover how simple it is for someone in these conditions to start and run a commercial operation on the main street in full view. Those involved, we learned, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their identities, assisting to fool the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to secretly document one of those at the core of the organization, who stated that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those hiring illegal laborers.

"I wanted to play a role in revealing these illegal practices [...] to declare that they don't represent our community," states one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant personally. The reporter came to the country illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his safety was at risk.

The investigators admit that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are elevated in the United Kingdom and state they have both been worried that the investigation could inflame hostilities.

But Ali explains that the unauthorized working "harms the entire Kurdish community" and he feels driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, Ali mentions he was concerned the reporting could be seized upon by the far-right.

He says this particularly affected him when he noticed that far-right activist a prominent activist's national unity march was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Signs and banners could be spotted at the gathering, displaying "we demand our country returned".

Both journalists have both been tracking online reaction to the investigation from inside the Kurdish-origin population and say it has sparked significant outrage for some. One social media post they found stated: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

Another demanded their relatives in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also read allegations that they were spies for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish-origin community," Saman states. "Our aim is to reveal those who have compromised its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and extremely concerned about the behavior of such individuals."

Most of those seeking refugee status say they are escaping political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that assists refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the situation for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for many years. He states he had to live on under twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was processed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which offers food, according to government regulations.

"Realistically stating, this is not enough to support a acceptable life," says the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prevented from working, he thinks numerous are vulnerable to being manipulated and are practically "compelled to work in the black economy for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the Home Office commented: "The government are unapologetic for denying refugee applicants the right to be employed - granting this would generate an reason for individuals to come to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Refugee cases can take multiple years to be processed with almost a one-third requiring more than a year, according to government data from the late March this current year.

Saman says being employed without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been very easy to do, but he told us he would never have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he encountered working in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "confused", particularly those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals spent all their money to come to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've lost everything."

Ali concurs that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] declare you're forbidden to work - but additionally [you]