The Reasons Our Team Went Covert to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish-background men consented to operate secretly to expose a operation behind unlawful main street establishments because the lawbreakers are causing harm the standing of Kurdish people in the Britain, they say.

The two, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish reporters who have both resided lawfully in the United Kingdom for a long time.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish crime network was managing small shops, hair salons and car washes across the United Kingdom, and wanted to find out more about how it worked and who was participating.

Armed with hidden recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no right to work, attempting to acquire and operate a mini-mart from which to distribute illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to discover how easy it is for an individual in these conditions to start and operate a business on the main street in plain sight. The individuals participating, we found, compensate Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the operations in their identities, enabling to fool the authorities.

Ali and Saman also managed to covertly record one of those at the core of the operation, who claimed that he could eliminate official penalties of up to £60k encountered those employing illegal employees.

"Personally wanted to participate in uncovering these unlawful operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not represent our community," explains one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker himself. Saman came to the UK 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 state - because his safety was at risk.

The investigators recognize that conflicts over unauthorized migration are significant in the UK and say they have both been anxious that the inquiry could intensify hostilities.

But the other reporter explains that the illegal employment "negatively affects the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he feels driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, Ali mentions he was worried the reporting could be exploited by the far-right.

He states this particularly impressed him when he discovered that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was working secretly. Banners and flags could be observed at the protest, showing "we want our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring online feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish population and say it has generated strong outrage for some. One social media post they spotted stated: "How can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

A different demanded their families in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered claims that they were agents for the UK authorities, and traitors to other Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish community," Saman says. "Our goal is to expose those who have compromised its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish heritage and deeply concerned about the activities of such persons."

The majority of those applying for refugee status claim they are fleeing political oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He says he had to live on less than £20 a per week while his asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers now receive about forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers food, according to government guidance.

"Honestly saying, this is not adequate to sustain a acceptable existence," says the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prevented from working, he feels many are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are essentially "forced to labor in the unofficial market for as low as £3 per hourly rate".

A official for the government department stated: "We make no apology for denying refugee applicants the authorization to work - doing so would create an incentive for individuals to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum applications can require years to be decided with almost a third taking more than 12 months, according to official statistics from the end of March this year.

The reporter says being employed without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been extremely easy to do, but he told us he would not have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he explains that those he met employed in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "lost", notably those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals used their entire funds to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've lost everything."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

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