Why Our Team Went Covert to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals decided to work covertly to expose a organization behind illegal High Street enterprises because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurdish people in the UK, they state.

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

The team uncovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was managing convenience stores, hair salons and car washes throughout the United Kingdom, and sought to discover more about how it functioned and who was taking part.

Prepared with secret cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no right to work, attempting to acquire and operate a mini-mart from which to distribute contraband tobacco products and vapes.

They were successful to reveal how simple it is for an individual in these conditions to set up and operate a enterprise on the commercial area in full view. The individuals involved, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to legally establish the enterprises in their identities, assisting to deceive the officials.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to secretly film one of those at the heart of the network, who asserted that he could remove government fines of up to £60,000 imposed on those using illegal laborers.

"I sought to contribute in exposing these illegal activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize us," states Saman, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the country illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a territory that covers the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his life was at danger.

The investigators acknowledge that tensions over unauthorized migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and state they have both been anxious that the inquiry could intensify conflicts.

But Ali says that the unauthorized employment "damages the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he considers driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, Ali says he was anxious the reporting could be seized upon by the extreme right.

He explains this notably affected him when he realized that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Signs and flags could be spotted at the rally, displaying "we want our nation back".

Both journalists have both been monitoring social media reaction to the inquiry from within the Kurdish-origin community and say it has generated strong anger for some. One social media message they observed stated: "How can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

One more demanded their relatives in Kurdistan to be attacked.

They have also encountered accusations that they were informants for the British government, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish-origin population," Saman says. "Our aim is to uncover those who have damaged its standing. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and profoundly troubled about the behavior of such persons."

Most of those applying for refugee status state they are fleeing political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

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

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which offers meals, according to Home Office guidance.

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

Because refugee applicants are generally prohibited from employment, he believes many are susceptible to being exploited and are essentially "obligated to labor in the illegal sector for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the Home Office stated: "The government are unapologetic for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to work - granting this would establish an motivation for people to travel to the UK without authorization."

Refugee applications can require years to be processed with nearly a 33% requiring more than one year, according to government data from the end of March this current year.

Saman says working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely simple to do, but he informed us he would not have participated in that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he encountered employed in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"They expended all their funds to come to the UK, they had their refugee application refused and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

Ali agrees that these people seemed hopeless.

"If [they] state you're prohibited to work - but also [you]