The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals consented to operate secretly to expose a operation behind unlawful main street enterprises because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the standing of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they explain.

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

Investigators found that a Kurdish crime network was managing mini-marts, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and aimed to discover more about how it operated and who was involved.

Prepared with hidden cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no permission to be employed, looking to purchase and run a mini-mart from which to sell contraband cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were able to uncover how simple it is for a person in these conditions to set up and operate a enterprise on the main street in public view. Those participating, we found, compensate Kurds who have UK residency to register the businesses in their identities, enabling to fool the authorities.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to discreetly film one of those at the centre of the organization, who claimed that he could erase official sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those employing illegal employees.

"Personally aimed to participate in uncovering these unlawful activities [...] to declare that they don't characterize our community," explains one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. Saman entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his safety was at danger.

The investigators acknowledge that disagreements over illegal migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the inquiry could worsen hostilities.

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized employment "damages the entire Kurdish population" and he believes driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, Ali mentions he was anxious the reporting could be exploited by the radical right.

He explains this especially affected him when he realized that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity march was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Signs and flags could be seen at the protest, showing "we want our country returned".

The reporters have both been tracking social media reaction to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and report it has sparked intense anger for certain individuals. One social media post they observed said: "How can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

Another demanded their relatives in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also seen claims that they were informants for the UK authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish-origin community," Saman explains. "Our aim is to expose those who have harmed its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish heritage and deeply troubled about the behavior of such people."

Most of those applying for asylum state they are fleeing political discrimination, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that assists asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he first came to the UK, struggled for years. He explains he had to live on under twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now receive about £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which includes meals, according to Home Office policies.

"Honestly saying, this is not sufficient to maintain a dignified life," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are generally restricted from working, he feels a significant number are vulnerable to being exploited and are practically "obligated to labor in the unofficial sector for as little as three pounds per hour".

A representative for the government department stated: "The government are unapologetic for denying asylum seekers the permission to work - doing so would create an incentive for people to come to the UK illegally."

Asylum cases can require years to be resolved with nearly a one-third requiring over 12 months, according to official statistics from the late March this current year.

Saman states being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been very straightforward to achieve, but he told the team he would not have done that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he met employed in illegal convenience stores during his research seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"They used all of their savings to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum refused and now they've lost all they had."

Ali concurs that these people seemed desperate.

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