The Reasons We Went Covert to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish men consented to operate secretly to reveal a network behind illegal commercial establishments because the criminals are damaging the image of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they say.

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

The team found that a Kurdish-linked crime network was operating small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and sought to find out more about how it worked and who was involved.

Prepared with secret cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no permission to be employed, seeking to acquire and operate a small shop from which to trade contraband tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to uncover how easy it is for an individual in these circumstances to establish and manage a business on the High Street in plain sight. The individuals participating, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the businesses in their names, assisting to mislead the officials.

Ali and Saman also managed to discreetly document one of those at the heart of the operation, who asserted that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those using unauthorized workers.

"I aimed to contribute in exposing these unlawful practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize Kurdish people," says Saman, a ex- refugee applicant personally. The reporter entered the country illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a region that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his safety was at danger.

The investigators admit that tensions over unauthorized migration are significant in the United Kingdom and state they have both been anxious that the investigation could intensify hostilities.

But Ali says that the unauthorized working "damages the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he feels obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, Ali mentions he was worried the publication could be used by the radical right.

He explains this especially struck him when he realized that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was occurring in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working secretly. Banners and banners could be observed at the gathering, reading "we want our nation back".

The reporters have both been observing online feedback to the inquiry from within the Kurdish community and report it has caused strong outrage for some. One Facebook post they spotted stated: "How can we identify and locate [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

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

They have also seen accusations that they were agents for the UK authorities, and traitors to other Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish community," Saman states. "Our goal is to expose those who have damaged its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish identity and deeply worried about the activities of such persons."

The majority of those applying for asylum say they are escaping politically motivated oppression, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that helps refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He states he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his refugee application was processed.

Refugee applicants now get approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which provides food, according to Home Office policies.

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

Because refugee applicants are generally prevented from employment, he thinks many are open to being exploited and are practically "compelled to work in the illegal market for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the authorities stated: "The government make no apology for denying refugee applicants the right to work - granting this would establish an incentive for people to come to the UK without authorization."

Asylum cases can require multiple years to be processed with nearly a third taking more than a year, according to official data from the spring this current year.

Saman explains being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely easy to achieve, but he informed the team he would not have done that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he interviewed laboring in illegal mini-marts during his investigation seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"They expended their entire funds to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

The other reporter concurs that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] declare you're forbidden to be employed - but additionally [you]