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

A pair of Kurdish-background men decided to work covertly to expose a operation behind illegal commercial enterprises because the lawbreakers are damaging the reputation of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they say.

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

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was operating mini-marts, barbershops and car washes the length of the United Kingdom, and sought to find out more about how it worked and who was involved.

Equipped with secret cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to be employed, looking to acquire and run a mini-mart from which to sell contraband tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to uncover how simple it is for an individual in these circumstances to start and operate a business on the commercial area in public view. The individuals participating, we discovered, compensate Kurds who have UK residency to register the operations in their names, enabling to mislead the officials.

Saman and Ali also were able to secretly document one of those at the heart of the network, who claimed that he could erase official sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those hiring illegal employees.

"I wanted to play a role in exposing these illegal activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't represent our community," states one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker personally. The reporter came to the country without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a nation - because his well-being was at threat.

The reporters recognize that tensions over illegal migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the inquiry could inflame hostilities.

But Ali says that the unauthorized labor "damages the whole Kurdish population" and he considers compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, the journalist mentions he was concerned the reporting could be used by the radical right.

He states this especially impressed him when he noticed that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was working undercover. Placards and flags could be observed at the protest, reading "we demand our country back".

Both journalists have both been observing social media feedback to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin community and explain it has generated significant anger for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they observed read: "In what way can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

A different demanded their relatives in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also read claims that they were informants for the British authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish population," one reporter says. "Our goal is to reveal those who have damaged its standing. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish identity and extremely worried about the actions of such persons."

Most of those seeking refugee status state they are fleeing political oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that supports asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to live on less than £20 a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which provides meals, according to official guidance.

"Realistically stating, this is not sufficient to maintain a dignified lifestyle," explains Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prohibited from employment, he thinks numerous are open to being manipulated and are practically "obligated to work in the black market for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the Home Office commented: "We are unapologetic for not granting asylum seekers the right to work - doing so would generate an incentive for people to come to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum applications can require a long time to be decided with approximately a one-third requiring over 12 months, according to official statistics from the spring this current year.

The reporter states being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been quite easy to do, but he told the team he would never have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he explains that those he encountered working in unauthorized convenience stores during his investigation seemed "lost", notably those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"They spent their entire savings to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

The other reporter acknowledges that these individuals seemed desperate.

"If [they] state you're forbidden to be employed - but also [you]