Why Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish-background men agreed to work covertly to uncover a operation behind unlawful commercial businesses because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the image of Kurds in the UK, they state.

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

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was running small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of the United Kingdom, and wanted to learn more about how it worked and who was involved.

Armed with secret cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no permission to be employed, attempting to buy and run a convenience store from which to sell unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

They were successful to uncover how straightforward it is for someone in these conditions to establish and manage a enterprise on the commercial area in public view. The individuals participating, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their names, assisting to fool the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also were able to discreetly film one of those at the core of the operation, who asserted that he could erase official fines of up to £60,000 encountered those using unauthorized employees.

"Personally wanted to play a role in exposing these illegal practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize our community," states Saman, a former asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the country illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a region that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a country - because his life was at risk.

The reporters acknowledge that tensions over unauthorized migration are high in the UK and state they have both been concerned that the investigation could worsen conflicts.

But the other reporter states that the unauthorized labor "harms the entire Kurdish community" and he considers driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, Ali mentions he was concerned the reporting could be used by the radical right.

He explains this especially impressed him when he realized that extreme right activist a prominent activist's national unity rally was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Banners and flags could be seen at the rally, reading "we want our country back".

The reporters have both been observing social media feedback to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin community and say it has sparked significant outrage for some. One social media comment they observed said: "In what way can we locate and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

A different demanded their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also seen allegations that they were spies for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish population," one reporter says. "Our aim is to uncover those who have harmed its image. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply troubled about the behavior of such persons."

Most of those seeking refugee status claim they are fleeing political oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a charity that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our covert journalist Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to live on under twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was considered.

Refugee applicants now get approximately £49 a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which provides meals, according to official regulations.

"Honestly saying, this is not adequate to support a respectable lifestyle," explains the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prohibited from working, he thinks many are vulnerable to being manipulated and are practically "obligated to work in the illegal market for as low as £3 per hour".

A official for the government department stated: "We make no apology for refusing to grant asylum seekers the right to be employed - doing so would generate an incentive for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Refugee cases can take a long time to be processed with nearly a third taking more than one year, according to government data from the spring this current year.

The reporter explains being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely simple to do, but he informed the team he would never have engaged in that.

However, he states that those he interviewed laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his research seemed "confused", particularly those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals spent their entire savings to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum rejected and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

Ali agrees that these people seemed desperate.

"When [they] declare you're not allowed to work - but simultaneously [you]