The Reasons Our Team Went Undercover to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals decided to work covertly to reveal a organization behind unlawful High Street businesses because the criminals are damaging the reputation of Kurds in the Britain, they explain.

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

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was managing small shops, barbershops and car washes across Britain, and aimed to learn more about how it functioned and who was taking part.

Prepared with hidden recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no right to work, seeking to purchase and operate a small shop from which to trade illegal tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were able to uncover how straightforward it is for someone in these situations to establish and manage a business on the main street in full view. Those involved, we found, compensate Kurds who have British citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their names, enabling to deceive the officials.

Ali and Saman also were able to covertly film one of those at the core of the network, who stated that he could remove official penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those employing unauthorized laborers.

"Personally sought to play a role in exposing these illegal activities [...] to say that they do not represent our community," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter entered the UK without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a region that covers the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his life was at threat.

The investigators recognize that conflicts over illegal immigration are high in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the investigation could inflame conflicts.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized employment "damages the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he feels compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, the journalist says he was worried the reporting could be used by the radical right.

He explains this notably affected him when he noticed that radical right activist a prominent activist's national unity rally was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Banners and banners could be observed at the rally, reading "we want our nation returned".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring social media reaction to the investigation from inside the Kurdish community and say it has sparked strong outrage for some. One Facebook comment they found read: "How can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

Another urged their relatives in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also encountered allegations that they were agents for the British authorities, and betrayers to other Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish-origin community," Saman states. "Our goal is to expose those who have harmed its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply worried about the actions of such individuals."

Most of those seeking asylum say they are fleeing politically motivated discrimination, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a organization that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert journalist Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, struggled for many years. He explains he had to live on less than twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was processed.

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

"Practically stating, this isn't sufficient to sustain a acceptable life," says Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are generally prohibited from employment, he believes a significant number are open to being exploited and are effectively "compelled to work in the unofficial market for as little as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities commented: "We are unapologetic for denying asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - granting this would create an incentive for people to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum applications can take multiple years to be decided with almost a one-third requiring over one year, according to official data from the spring this current year.

The reporter states being employed illegally in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely easy to achieve, but he explained to us he would not have done that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he met laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his research seemed "lost", particularly those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals used all of their funds to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've forfeited everything."

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

"When [they] declare you're forbidden to be employed - but simultaneously [you]