Why Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish men consented to go undercover to expose a network behind unlawful commercial enterprises because the wrongdoers are causing harm the image of Kurds in the UK, they say.

The two, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish reporters who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was operating mini-marts, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout the United Kingdom, and wanted to learn more about how it worked and who was participating.

Equipped with secret recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to be employed, seeking to purchase and manage a mini-mart from which to sell contraband cigarettes and vapes.

They were successful to discover how easy it is for someone in these circumstances to start and manage a commercial operation on the commercial area in plain sight. The individuals participating, we discovered, compensate Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the operations in their identities, assisting to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to discreetly document one of those at the core of the network, who stated that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to £60,000 encountered those hiring unauthorized employees.

"I aimed to contribute in revealing these illegal operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not represent us," explains one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a state - because his well-being was at risk.

The investigators recognize that disagreements over illegal migration are high in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been concerned that the probe could worsen hostilities.

But the other reporter states that the illegal working "damages the whole Kurdish population" and he believes obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, the journalist says he was anxious the coverage could be exploited by the extreme right.

He explains this especially affected him when he realized that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity rally was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working covertly. Placards and banners could be seen at the protest, reading "we want our country returned".

Saman and Ali have both been observing online response to the investigation from inside the Kurdish-origin community and say it has generated intense frustration for some. One Facebook message they observed said: "How can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

A different demanded their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also encountered allegations that they were agents for the British government, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish population," Saman states. "Our goal is to uncover those who have harmed its image. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish identity and extremely worried about the activities of such persons."

Most of those applying for refugee status claim they are escaping political oppression, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the case for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He states he had to live on less than £20 a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now get approximately £49 a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which includes meals, according to Home Office policies.

"Realistically speaking, this isn't adequate to support a dignified lifestyle," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly restricted from working, he feels numerous are open to being taken advantage of and are essentially "forced to work in the black economy for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the government department stated: "The government do not apologize for not granting asylum seekers the right to be employed - granting this would generate an motivation for individuals to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Asylum applications can take years to be processed with nearly a 33% requiring over a year, according to official data from the spring this year.

The reporter says being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been very simple to do, but he told the team he would never have done that.

However, he states that those he met laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his investigation seemed "confused", notably those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended their entire money to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've sacrificed all they had."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"When [they] say you're forbidden to be employed - but additionally [you]