Why Our Team Went Undercover to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish individuals consented to go undercover to reveal a organization behind unlawful main street establishments because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the image of Kurdish people in the Britain, they explain.

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

The team discovered that a Kurdish crime network was running convenience stores, barbershops and car washes across the United Kingdom, and wanted to discover more about how it operated and who was involved.

Prepared with hidden recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to be employed, attempting to buy and run a small shop from which to distribute unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

They were able to reveal how simple it is for someone in these situations to start and run a commercial operation on the main street in full view. Those involved, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the operations in their names, enabling to fool the officials.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to covertly record one of those at the heart of the organization, who stated that he could remove official fines of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those using unauthorized employees.

"Personally sought to contribute in exposing these illegal practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not speak for us," explains one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker personally. The reporter came to the country without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his life was at risk.

The journalists acknowledge that disagreements over illegal immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been worried that the probe could inflame conflicts.

But Ali explains that the unauthorized employment "harms the whole Kurdish community" and he feels compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, the journalist says he was anxious the coverage could be seized upon by the far-right.

He says this notably struck him when he discovered that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity rally was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Signs and banners could be seen at the rally, displaying "we want our nation returned".

The reporters have both been observing social media response to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin population and say it has generated strong anger for certain individuals. One Facebook message they observed said: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

A different urged their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also encountered allegations that they were agents for the UK authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish population," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to reveal those who have damaged its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and profoundly troubled about the activities of such individuals."

Most of those applying for asylum say they are fleeing politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He states he had to live on less than £20 a week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about £49 a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which provides meals, according to government guidance.

"Honestly speaking, this isn't adequate to sustain a dignified life," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are largely prohibited from working, he believes numerous are vulnerable to being manipulated and are effectively "compelled to work in the unofficial economy for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the Home Office commented: "We make no apology for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to work - granting this would establish an incentive for individuals to come to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum cases can require years to be resolved with almost a one-third taking over one year, according to government figures from the end of March this year.

The reporter says being employed illegally in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been quite straightforward to do, but he informed us he would not have done that.

However, he explains that those he interviewed employed in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "lost", especially those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals spent all their funds to migrate to the UK, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost their entire investment."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed hopeless.

"If [they] state you're prohibited to be employed - but additionally [you]