Why We Went Undercover to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals consented to operate secretly to uncover a organization behind unlawful main street establishments because the criminals are causing harm the image of Kurds in the UK, they explain.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for a long time.

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was managing convenience stores, barbershops and car washes across the UK, and sought to find out more about how it worked and who was participating.

Armed with covert recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to be employed, seeking to buy and manage a small shop from which to distribute unlawful tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were successful to uncover how easy it is for someone in these conditions to start and operate a commercial operation on the High Street in plain sight. The individuals involved, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the operations in their names, assisting to deceive the officials.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to discreetly film one of those at the centre of the operation, who claimed that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to £60k encountered those hiring illegal employees.

"Personally wanted to participate in exposing these illegal practices [...] to declare that they do not characterize us," states one reporter, a former asylum seeker personally. Saman entered the UK illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a region that covers the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his life was at threat.

The investigators acknowledge that conflicts over illegal migration are high in the UK and state they have both been worried that the inquiry could worsen hostilities.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized labor "harms the entire Kurdish population" and he considers driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, the journalist mentions he was worried the reporting could be exploited by the extreme right.

He explains this particularly struck him when he realized that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity rally was occurring in London on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Signs and banners could be seen at the gathering, displaying "we demand our country returned".

Both journalists have both been tracking online response to the exposé from within the Kurdish population and explain it has generated strong anger for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they spotted stated: "How can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

Another urged their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also seen claims that they were agents for the British government, and traitors to other Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish community," Saman says. "Our objective is to uncover those who have damaged its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and profoundly worried about the actions of such persons."

Most of those applying for asylum say they are fleeing political persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for years. He explains he had to live on less than twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was processed.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which provides food, according to Home Office regulations.

"Practically speaking, this is not sufficient to support a dignified lifestyle," explains the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are largely prohibited from working, he believes numerous are susceptible to being manipulated and are practically "compelled to work in the illegal economy for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the authorities commented: "We make no apology for not granting asylum seekers the permission to work - granting this would create an incentive for people to migrate to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum cases can take years to be decided with nearly a one-third taking more than a year, according to government statistics from the late March this year.

Saman says being employed illegally in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been very simple to do, but he explained to us he would never have done that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he interviewed employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "confused", especially those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended their entire savings to come to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed desperate.

"When [they] say you're forbidden to work - but simultaneously [you]