The Reasons We Went Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

A pair of Kurdish-background men decided to go undercover to uncover a operation behind illegal High Street establishments because the lawbreakers are damaging the reputation of Kurdish people in the UK, they explain.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish journalists who have both lived lawfully in the UK for years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was operating small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of Britain, and wanted to find out more about how it functioned and who was involved.

Prepared with covert cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to work, seeking to acquire and manage a mini-mart from which to trade unlawful tobacco products and vapes.

They were successful to uncover how easy it is for someone in these conditions to establish and manage a enterprise on the main street in full view. Those involved, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their identities, helping to mislead the authorities.

Ali and Saman also were able to secretly record one of those at the heart of the network, who stated that he could erase official fines of up to £60k encountered those using unauthorized laborers.

"Personally aimed to contribute in exposing these unlawful activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize our community," says one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant himself. Saman came to the United Kingdom illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a area that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a state - because his well-being was at danger.

The reporters admit that tensions over unauthorized migration are high in the UK and explain they have both been anxious that the inquiry could inflame conflicts.

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

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

He says this notably impressed him when he discovered that radical right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity protest was happening in London on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Signs and banners could be observed at the protest, displaying "we want our country returned".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring online feedback to the investigation from inside the Kurdish-origin population and report it has generated significant frustration for some. One Facebook post they spotted said: "How can we locate and locate [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

One more demanded their families in Kurdistan to be attacked.

They have also encountered claims that they were agents for the UK authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish-origin community," Saman explains. "Our goal is to expose those who have compromised its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and profoundly worried about the actions of such persons."

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

This was the situation for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, faced difficulties for years. He says he had to live on less than £20 a week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which provides food, according to Home Office policies.

"Honestly speaking, this is not sufficient to sustain a dignified life," states the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prohibited from working, he believes a significant number are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are effectively "obligated to work in the illegal sector for as little as three pounds per hour".

A official for the government department stated: "We make no apology for not granting refugee applicants the right to work - granting this would create an incentive for people to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Refugee applications can require multiple years to be decided with nearly a third requiring over a year, according to official figures from the spring this current year.

Saman says being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been very straightforward to do, but he explained to us he would never have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, 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 appeals process.

"These individuals expended their entire funds to come to the UK, they had their refugee application refused and now they've forfeited everything."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed desperate.

"When [they] say you're forbidden to work - but also [you]