The Reasons We Went Undercover to Expose Crime in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish men consented to work covertly to expose a network behind unlawful main street establishments because the criminals are causing harm the image of Kurds in the UK, they explain.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both lived legally in the United Kingdom for many years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was running convenience stores, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of the United Kingdom, and wanted to find out more about how it operated and who was participating.

Equipped with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no permission to be employed, looking to purchase and operate a small shop from which to sell contraband cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to uncover how simple it is for an individual in these circumstances to set up and operate a commercial operation on the High Street in plain sight. Those involved, we learned, compensate Kurds who have UK residency to register the operations in their identities, enabling to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also managed to discreetly document one of those at the heart of the network, who asserted that he could eliminate government sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those hiring unauthorized workers.

"Personally aimed to participate in revealing these unlawful activities [...] to declare that they do not speak for Kurdish people," explains Saman, a ex- refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the country illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that straddles the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his safety was at threat.

The journalists acknowledge that conflicts over illegal immigration are high in the United Kingdom and say they have both been worried that the investigation could inflame tensions.

But Ali says that the unauthorized labor "damages the whole Kurdish community" and he believes obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, Ali says he was anxious the coverage could be exploited by the radical right.

He explains this especially struck him when he discovered that far-right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was occurring in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating undercover. Placards and flags could be seen at the protest, displaying "we want our nation back".

Saman and Ali have both been observing social media reaction to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin community and explain it has caused strong outrage for certain individuals. One Facebook post they observed stated: "In what way can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

One more called for their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered accusations that they were informants for the British government, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "We are not informants, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish community," Saman states. "Our objective is to expose those who have harmed its image. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and extremely worried about the activities of such individuals."

The majority of those seeking refugee status say they are escaping political persecution, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He states he had to survive on under twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now receive about forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which provides food, according to official guidance.

"Honestly speaking, this isn't sufficient to support a acceptable lifestyle," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are generally prohibited from working, he believes numerous are open to being taken advantage of and are effectively "forced to labor in the black sector for as little as £3 per hour".

A representative for the government department commented: "We do not apologize for not granting asylum seekers the authorization to work - doing so would generate an incentive for people to travel to the UK without authorization."

Asylum cases can require a long time to be processed with almost a one-third taking more than a year, according to government statistics from the late March this year.

The reporter states working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or mini-mart would have been very easy to achieve, but he explained to the team he would never have engaged in that.

However, he says that those he encountered laboring in illegal mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", notably those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals expended all of their funds to travel to the UK, they had their refugee application denied and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

Ali acknowledges that these people seemed desperate.

"When [they] declare you're prohibited to work - but additionally [you]