Why Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

Two Kurdish-background individuals decided to work covertly to uncover a organization behind illegal commercial enterprises because the lawbreakers are causing harm the standing of Kurdish people in the UK, they say.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish investigators who have both resided legally in the UK for a long time.

The team found that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was managing convenience stores, hair salons and car washes across the United Kingdom, and wanted to learn more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Prepared with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no permission to work, attempting to acquire and operate a convenience store from which to trade illegal tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how straightforward it is for a person in these circumstances to set up and manage a enterprise on the main street in full view. The individuals participating, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the enterprises in their names, helping to mislead the authorities.

Ali and Saman also were able to discreetly document one of those at the heart of the network, who stated that he could erase government penalties of up to £60,000 encountered those employing unauthorized workers.

"Personally aimed to play a role in exposing these illegal activities [...] to say that they do not represent Kurdish people," states Saman, a ex- asylum seeker personally. The reporter came to the United Kingdom without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that spans the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his well-being was at danger.

The investigators recognize that disagreements over unauthorized immigration are significant in the UK and say they have both been worried that the investigation could inflame conflicts.

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized working "harms the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he believes compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Additionally, the journalist says he was worried the coverage could be exploited by the radical right.

He states this particularly impressed him when he noticed that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was working secretly. Placards and flags could be spotted at the gathering, reading "we want our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been observing social media response to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish population and explain it has caused significant frustration for certain individuals. One social media message they found said: "How can we locate and locate [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

Another called for their relatives in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered claims that they were spies for the UK government, and traitors to other Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish population," Saman explains. "Our aim is to uncover those who have compromised its image. We are honored of our Kurdish identity and deeply concerned about the behavior of such persons."

Most of those applying for refugee status claim they are escaping political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He says he had to live on under £20 a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

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

"Realistically speaking, this is not adequate to maintain a dignified life," says Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are generally prohibited from working, he feels a significant number are open to being taken advantage of and are effectively "compelled to labor in the unofficial market for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the Home Office said: "The government make no apology for refusing to grant asylum seekers the authorization to work - granting this would establish an incentive for people to come to the UK without authorization."

Asylum applications can take years to be resolved with nearly a third requiring more than a year, according to government statistics from the spring this year.

Saman explains working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely simple to achieve, but he told us he would never have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he interviewed laboring in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals expended their entire funds to come to the UK, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've sacrificed all they had."

The other reporter concurs that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

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