Why Our Team Went Undercover to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish men agreed to work covertly to reveal a operation behind unlawful commercial enterprises because the lawbreakers are causing harm the standing of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they explain.

The two, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both resided lawfully in the United Kingdom for a long time.

The team found that a Kurdish-linked crime network was operating small shops, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout the UK, and sought to learn more about how it functioned and who was taking part.

Armed with secret recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to work, attempting to acquire and operate a mini-mart from which to distribute contraband cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how easy it is for a person in these conditions to start and run a business on the commercial area in plain sight. Those involved, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to legally establish the operations in their names, helping to fool the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to secretly document one of those at the heart of the organization, who stated that he could erase official fines of up to £60k imposed on those hiring illegal workers.

"I wanted to play a role in revealing these unlawful practices [...] to declare that they do not characterize our community," explains one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the country without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a region that straddles the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his safety was at threat.

The reporters recognize that disagreements over unauthorized migration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the inquiry could intensify tensions.

But the other reporter says that the illegal labor "negatively affects the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he believes compelled to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, the journalist explains he was anxious the coverage could be seized upon by the radical right.

He explains this particularly struck him when he noticed that extreme right activist a prominent activist's national unity march was happening in London on one of the weekends he was operating undercover. Banners and flags could be seen at the rally, reading "we want our nation back".

Both journalists have both been tracking social media response to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin population and report it has generated significant frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they observed read: "How can we locate and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

One more urged their families in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also encountered claims that they were agents for the British authorities, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish population," one reporter states. "Our goal is to uncover those who have harmed its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and profoundly troubled about the actions of such people."

Most of those seeking refugee status claim they are escaping politically motivated oppression, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that helps refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the UK, faced difficulties for years. He states he had to live on under £20 a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now get about forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which offers meals, according to Home Office guidance.

"Honestly saying, this is not enough to maintain a respectable existence," explains Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prevented from working, he thinks many are open to being exploited and are practically "compelled to work in the unofficial economy for as low as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities said: "The government make no apology for not granting asylum seekers the permission to work - granting this would establish an motivation for people to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Refugee applications can require multiple years to be processed with almost a one-third requiring over 12 months, according to official data from the late March this current year.

The reporter says working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been very simple to do, but he told the team he would not have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he explains that those he met laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his research seemed "lost", notably those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals used their entire money to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've sacrificed everything."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed in dire straits.

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