Why We Chose to Go Undercover to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish individuals agreed to work covertly to uncover a organization behind unlawful High Street enterprises because the criminals are causing harm the standing of Kurdish people in the UK, they say.

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

The team discovered that a Kurdish crime network was managing mini-marts, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and aimed to learn more about how it worked and who was involved.

Armed with covert cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to be employed, looking to acquire and operate a mini-mart from which to trade illegal tobacco products and vapes.

They were successful to discover how easy it is for someone in these conditions to start and run a enterprise on the commercial area in plain sight. Those participating, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the operations in their identities, enabling to fool the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also were able to discreetly record one of those at the heart of the operation, who claimed that he could remove government sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those using unauthorized employees.

"Personally aimed to participate in exposing these unlawful activities [...] to say that they don't speak for our community," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter came to the country without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his well-being was at risk.

The reporters acknowledge that conflicts over illegal migration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the probe could inflame hostilities.

But Ali states that the unauthorized working "damages the entire Kurdish community" and he believes obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, Ali says he was worried the reporting could be seized upon by the radical right.

He says this especially impressed him when he realized that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom march was taking place in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating undercover. Placards and banners could be spotted at the rally, displaying "we demand our nation back".

Both journalists have both been tracking online reaction to the inquiry from within the Kurdish-origin population and say it has sparked strong outrage for some. One social media post they found read: "In what way can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

A different urged their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also seen allegations that they were informants for the British authorities, and betrayers to other Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish community," one reporter explains. "Our aim is to reveal those who have damaged its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and profoundly troubled about the actions of such people."

The majority of those applying for refugee status state they are escaping politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he first arrived to the UK, experienced challenges for many years. He says he had to survive on under twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was considered.

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

"Realistically speaking, this is not adequate to maintain a respectable existence," states the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are generally prevented from employment, he believes a significant number are vulnerable to being exploited and are practically "obligated to work in the unofficial market for as low as £3 per hour".

A representative for the Home Office commented: "We are unapologetic for refusing to grant asylum seekers the permission to be employed - granting this would establish an reason for individuals to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Asylum cases can require multiple years to be decided with almost a third taking over a year, according to official figures from the late March this current year.

Saman says working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been quite easy to accomplish, but he explained to us he would not have engaged in that.

However, he says that those he met employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his investigation seemed "disoriented", notably those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the legal challenge.

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

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] say you're prohibited to work - but additionally [you]