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

A pair of Kurdish men consented to operate secretly to uncover a operation behind unlawful High Street establishments because the criminals are damaging the reputation of Kurdish people in the Britain, they state.

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

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was running small shops, barbershops and car washes throughout Britain, and aimed to find out more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Armed with secret cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to be employed, seeking to acquire and manage a convenience store from which to trade contraband cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to discover how easy it is for someone in these circumstances to start and operate a business on the main street in full view. Those participating, we discovered, compensate Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to legally establish the operations in their identities, enabling to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly record one of those at the heart of the network, who stated that he could eliminate official fines of up to £60,000 faced those hiring illegal laborers.

"I sought to participate in revealing these unlawful activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize us," explains Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter came to the UK without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his safety was at threat.

The journalists admit that disagreements over illegal immigration are high in the UK and state they have both been anxious that the investigation could worsen hostilities.

But the other reporter says that the illegal employment "harms the whole Kurdish community" and he feels driven to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, Ali says he was anxious the reporting could be used by the far-right.

He states this notably struck him when he realized that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march was taking place in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working undercover. Signs and flags could be seen at the gathering, showing "we demand our nation back".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking social media feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has caused intense outrage for certain individuals. One Facebook post they found stated: "How can we locate and locate [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

Another called for their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also seen claims that they were spies for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of damaging the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter states. "Our aim is to uncover those who have harmed its image. We are honored of our Kurdish identity and profoundly worried about the behavior of such persons."

The majority of those seeking asylum say they are fleeing politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that helps refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the situation for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He states he had to live on under twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was processed.

Asylum seekers now receive about £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which includes meals, according to government guidance.

"Honestly saying, this isn't sufficient to maintain a acceptable life," states the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are generally prohibited from working, he believes numerous are open to being taken advantage of and are practically "compelled to work in the black market for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A official for the Home Office stated: "The government are unapologetic for denying asylum seekers the permission to work - granting this would generate an reason for individuals to migrate to the UK illegally."

Asylum applications can require multiple years to be processed with nearly a 33% requiring more than one year, according to official data from the end of March this year.

Saman explains working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite easy to do, but he informed the team he would never have done that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he interviewed working in illegal mini-marts during his work seemed "disoriented", notably those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended all their money to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've sacrificed everything."

Ali concurs that these people seemed in dire straits.

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