The Reasons We Went Undercover to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish-background individuals decided to work covertly to reveal a network behind unlawful main street businesses because the lawbreakers are causing harm the image of Kurds in the UK, they say.

The pair, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was running mini-marts, barbershops and car washes throughout Britain, and aimed to discover more about how it operated and who was involved.

Equipped with hidden recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no authorization to be employed, looking to buy and operate a convenience store from which to sell illegal tobacco products and vapes.

They were successful to discover how easy it is for a person in these situations to establish and manage a commercial operation on the High Street in public view. Those participating, we learned, compensate Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to legally establish the businesses in their names, assisting to mislead the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to secretly document one of those at the centre of the operation, who asserted that he could erase official sanctions of up to £60k faced those employing unauthorized employees.

"Personally wanted to participate in revealing these unlawful practices [...] to declare that they don't speak for our community," says one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant personally. Saman came to the country without authorization, having escaped from Kurdistan - a region that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his life was at threat.

The investigators admit that disagreements over unauthorized migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and say they have both been worried that the investigation could inflame hostilities.

But Ali states that the unauthorized working "negatively affects the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he considers obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, Ali mentions he was anxious the publication could be exploited by the extreme right.

He says this particularly affected him when he noticed that extreme right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was taking place in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating undercover. Placards and flags could be spotted at the rally, showing "we demand our country back".

Both journalists have both been tracking online feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish population and say it has sparked intense outrage for some. One social media comment they observed read: "In what way can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

Another demanded their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also encountered accusations that they were agents for the British government, and traitors to other Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish community," Saman states. "Our aim is to reveal those who have harmed its standing. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and deeply worried about the activities of such people."

The majority of those applying for asylum say they are fleeing political discrimination, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that supports refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He says he had to survive on under twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Refugee applicants now are provided about £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which provides food, according to government regulations.

"Honestly saying, this isn't enough to sustain a acceptable life," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely restricted from employment, he thinks numerous are open to being exploited and are essentially "compelled to labor in the illegal market for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the Home Office said: "We do not apologize for refusing to grant refugee applicants the permission to work - doing so would establish an incentive for individuals to come to the UK illegally."

Refugee applications can take a long time to be processed with almost a one-third taking more than a year, according to government data from the late March this year.

Saman explains working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been quite straightforward to do, but he informed us he would never have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he interviewed working in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", notably those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended all of their savings to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum refused and now they've lost everything."

Ali concurs that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"If [they] state you're not allowed to be employed - but simultaneously [you]