Why Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

A pair of Kurdish-background men agreed to work covertly to reveal a operation behind unlawful High Street businesses because the wrongdoers are causing harm the reputation of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.

The pair, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish reporters who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for a long time.

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was operating convenience stores, barbershops and car washes across the UK, and wanted to learn more about how it operated and who was participating.

Armed with secret cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no permission to work, looking to purchase and manage a mini-mart from which to trade unlawful tobacco products and vapes.

They were able to uncover how easy it is for someone in these conditions to establish and manage a enterprise on the main street in public view. Those involved, we discovered, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their names, assisting to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also managed to discreetly record one of those at the core of the network, who claimed that he could erase government penalties of up to £60k faced those using unauthorized laborers.

"Personally aimed to play a role in uncovering these unlawful practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize us," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker personally. Saman entered the country illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a area that covers the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a state - because his life was at danger.

The reporters admit that tensions over unauthorized migration are significant in the UK and say they have both been concerned that the probe could worsen conflicts.

But the other reporter states that the illegal labor "damages the whole Kurdish community" and he believes compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, Ali mentions he was worried the reporting could be used by the radical right.

He states this particularly impressed him when he realized that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was working secretly. Signs and banners could be spotted at the gathering, displaying "we demand our nation back".

Saman and Ali have both been observing social media response to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish population and report it has caused significant frustration for some. One Facebook comment they found read: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

One more demanded their families in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered claims that they were agents for the UK authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter states. "Our objective is to reveal those who have harmed its image. We are honored of our Kurdish heritage and profoundly concerned about the actions of such people."

The majority of those applying for refugee status claim they are fleeing political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a organization that supports asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He explains he had to survive on less than £20 a week while his asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers now get about £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which provides meals, according to official guidance.

"Honestly stating, this is not sufficient to maintain a respectable lifestyle," says Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are largely restricted from working, he believes numerous are open to being manipulated and are practically "obligated to labor in the unofficial sector for as little as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities commented: "We do not apologize for not granting asylum seekers the permission to be employed - granting this would create an reason for people to travel to the UK without authorization."

Refugee cases can require multiple years to be processed with almost a 33% requiring over a year, according to official figures from the spring this year.

Saman states working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been very simple to do, but he told the team he would not have participated in that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he interviewed working in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "lost", notably those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals expended all their money to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've lost their entire investment."

Ali concurs that these people seemed desperate.

"When [they] state you're not allowed to work - but also [you]