The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals agreed to operate secretly to expose a organization behind unlawful main street enterprises because the lawbreakers are causing harm the reputation of Kurdish people in the Britain, they explain.

The pair, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish reporters who have both resided lawfully in the United Kingdom for years.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was operating small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and wanted to find out more about how it operated and who was involved.

Armed with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no authorization to work, attempting to acquire and manage a small shop from which to sell contraband cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were able to discover how straightforward it is for someone in these circumstances to establish and run a enterprise on the main street in public view. The individuals involved, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their names, assisting to fool the authorities.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to covertly record one of those at the heart of the operation, who claimed that he could eliminate government penalties of up to £60,000 faced those using unauthorized laborers.

"I aimed to participate in uncovering these unlawful operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't speak for our community," says one reporter, a former refugee applicant personally. The reporter came to the United Kingdom illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a territory that spans the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his life was at danger.

The journalists recognize that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been worried that the investigation could inflame conflicts.

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized working "negatively affects the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he considers obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, Ali mentions he was worried the publication could be seized upon by the extreme right.

He states this particularly impressed him when he noticed that far-right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Placards and banners could be spotted at the protest, showing "we want our nation back".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring social media feedback to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin community and explain it has generated intense frustration for some. One Facebook comment they spotted read: "How can we locate and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

A different called for their families in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also seen claims that they were spies for the UK authorities, and betrayers to other Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no intention of damaging the Kurdish population," Saman explains. "Our objective is to uncover those who have compromised its reputation. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply concerned about the actions of such persons."

Most of those seeking asylum state they are escaping political oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to live on under £20 a week while his refugee application was processed.

Refugee applicants now receive approximately £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which provides food, according to Home Office policies.

"Realistically speaking, this isn't sufficient to sustain a dignified lifestyle," states the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are largely prevented from employment, he thinks many are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are effectively "obligated to work in the black economy for as little as three pounds per hour".

A representative for the authorities stated: "We are unapologetic for denying refugee applicants the right to be employed - granting this would establish an incentive for people to come to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum applications can take years to be processed with approximately a third requiring more than a year, according to government figures from the late March this year.

The reporter explains working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or mini-mart would have been extremely simple to achieve, but he told the team he would not have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he encountered working in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "lost", particularly those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the legal challenge.

"They spent all of their money to come to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've lost their entire investment."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] state you're not allowed to be employed - but simultaneously [you]