Why Our Team Went Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish men consented to work covertly to uncover a operation behind illegal High Street establishments because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for many years.

Investigators found that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was managing small shops, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout the UK, and aimed to find out more about how it operated and who was participating.

Armed with secret recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to be employed, attempting to acquire and operate a convenience store from which to sell contraband cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to discover how easy it is for someone in these conditions to start and operate a commercial operation on the High Street in full view. Those involved, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the operations in their names, enabling to deceive the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to discreetly record one of those at the centre of the network, who asserted that he could erase government penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those using illegal employees.

"Personally aimed to play a role in revealing these illegal operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't represent Kurdish people," says Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter came to the country without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a territory that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his life was at threat.

The journalists admit that conflicts over unauthorized migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been worried that the inquiry could intensify tensions.

But the other reporter says that the illegal labor "harms the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he feels driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Additionally, the journalist mentions he was worried the publication could be seized upon by the extreme right.

He says this particularly struck him when he noticed that radical right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom march was taking place in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Signs and flags could be observed at the protest, showing "we demand our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been observing online reaction to the investigation from inside the Kurdish population and say it has caused strong anger for certain individuals. One social media post they found read: "In what way can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

Another urged their relatives in Kurdistan to be attacked.

They have also encountered accusations that they were spies for the UK government, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish-origin community," Saman says. "Our objective is to expose those who have harmed its standing. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish heritage and deeply worried about the actions of such persons."

Most of those applying for asylum state they are escaping political oppression, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a charity that supports refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first came to the UK, faced difficulties for years. He states he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now receive about forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which includes meals, according to official policies.

"Realistically saying, this isn't sufficient to maintain a acceptable life," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are generally prevented from working, he believes many are open to being exploited and are effectively "compelled to work in the illegal market for as low as £3 per hour".

A official for the government department commented: "The government do not apologize for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to be employed - doing so would establish an reason for individuals to travel to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Refugee applications can take years to be processed with nearly a 33% requiring more than a year, according to government statistics from the spring this current year.

The reporter explains working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been very simple to accomplish, but he informed the team he would never have done that.

However, he states that those he interviewed working in illegal mini-marts during his research seemed "confused", particularly those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals used their entire money to migrate to the UK, they had their refugee application denied and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

Ali agrees that these people seemed desperate.

"When [they] state you're not allowed to work - but additionally [you]