The Reasons We Went Undercover to Expose Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals consented to go undercover to expose a operation behind unlawful High Street establishments because the wrongdoers are damaging the image of Kurds in the Britain, they explain.

The two, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both lived legally in the UK for years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was managing small shops, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout the UK, and sought to find out more about how it worked and who was involved.

Prepared with secret recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to be employed, looking to buy and operate a convenience store from which to distribute unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to discover how simple it is for an individual in these circumstances to start and manage a enterprise on the High Street in plain sight. The individuals involved, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their identities, helping to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to discreetly record one of those at the centre of the operation, who claimed that he could erase government sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those employing unauthorized laborers.

"Personally aimed to contribute in exposing these unlawful operations [...] to say that they do not represent us," says Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter came to the country without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a region that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a nation - because his safety was at danger.

The journalists acknowledge that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are elevated in the UK and say they have both been concerned that the probe could worsen tensions.

But the other reporter says that the illegal working "harms the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he believes obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, Ali says he was anxious the coverage could be used by the far-right.

He says this particularly affected him when he discovered that far-right activist a prominent activist's national unity rally was occurring in London on one of the weekends he was operating undercover. Banners and flags could be spotted at the protest, reading "we demand our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been observing online reaction to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish community and explain it has generated strong frustration for some. One social media comment they spotted said: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

A different called for their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also seen allegations that they were spies for the UK government, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish-origin population," Saman says. "Our aim is to expose those who have damaged its standing. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and extremely troubled about the actions of such people."

The majority of those applying for asylum claim they are fleeing political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that helps asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he initially came to the UK, experienced challenges for many years. He says he had to live on under twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was considered.

Asylum seekers now are provided about forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which includes food, according to government regulations.

"Honestly speaking, this isn't sufficient to support a respectable existence," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prohibited from working, he thinks many are open to being exploited and are practically "obligated to labor in the black economy for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the Home Office commented: "The government make no apology for refusing to grant asylum seekers the permission to be employed - granting this would establish an incentive for people to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Asylum applications can take a long time to be resolved with almost a one-third taking more than 12 months, according to government figures from the spring this year.

Saman says working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or mini-mart would have been very simple to accomplish, but he explained to the team he would never have done that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he encountered laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his research seemed "lost", especially those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals expended all their funds to come to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've forfeited all they had."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] say you're prohibited to work - but also [you]