The Reasons Our Team Went Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

A pair of Kurdish-background men decided to work covertly to expose a network behind unlawful commercial enterprises because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the image of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.

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

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was operating mini-marts, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of Britain, and aimed to learn more about how it operated and who was involved.

Prepared with secret cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no authorization to be employed, looking to purchase and manage a mini-mart from which to distribute illegal cigarettes and vapes.

They were successful to discover how simple it is for a person in these situations to establish and run a enterprise on the High Street in plain sight. The individuals participating, we discovered, pay Kurds who have UK residency to register the enterprises in their names, assisting to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also were able to covertly film one of those at the core of the operation, who asserted that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those employing illegal employees.

"I aimed to participate in uncovering these unlawful activities [...] to say that they don't represent us," states one reporter, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a area that covers the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a nation - because his well-being was at threat.

The reporters acknowledge that tensions over illegal immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the probe could worsen hostilities.

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

Separately, Ali explains he was concerned the reporting could be used by the radical right.

He says this especially struck him when he discovered that far-right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating secretly. Placards and banners could be seen at the rally, showing "we demand our country returned".

Both journalists have both been tracking online feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and report it has generated strong outrage for some. One Facebook message they found said: "In what way can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

Another demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also encountered claims that they were informants for the UK government, and betrayers to other Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter explains. "Our objective is to expose those who have compromised its standing. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish identity and profoundly troubled about the behavior of such people."

The majority of those applying for asylum state they are escaping politically motivated discrimination, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he first arrived to the UK, struggled for years. He explains he had to live on less than £20 a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Asylum seekers now get approximately £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which provides food, according to government policies.

"Realistically saying, this isn't enough to maintain a dignified lifestyle," states Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prohibited from employment, he thinks many are susceptible to being manipulated and are essentially "obligated to labor in the black economy for as low as £3 per hour".

A official for the Home Office stated: "The government make no apology for denying asylum seekers the right to be employed - granting this would create an incentive for individuals to come to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee cases can require years to be processed with almost a 33% taking more than a year, according to official figures from the late March this current year.

The reporter states working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been very simple to do, but he explained to us he would not have participated in that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he met working in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals expended all of their savings to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've sacrificed everything."

Ali agrees that these people seemed desperate.

"When [they] say you're prohibited to be employed - but also [you]