The Reasons We Went Covert to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish-background men agreed to work covertly to reveal a organization behind unlawful commercial businesses because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they explain.

The pair, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish journalists who have both resided legally in the UK for many years.

The team found that a Kurdish-linked crime network was managing small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services throughout Britain, and wanted to discover more about how it worked and who was involved.

Equipped with secret recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to work, seeking to buy and manage a small shop from which to sell unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to uncover how easy it is for an individual in these circumstances to set up and run a commercial operation on the main street in public view. The individuals participating, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the businesses in their identities, enabling to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also were able to secretly film one of those at the heart of the organization, who claimed that he could eliminate official fines of up to £60,000 faced those using illegal laborers.

"I wanted to play a role in revealing these unlawful operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not characterize our community," explains Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. Saman entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having escaped from Kurdistan - a area that straddles the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his life was at threat.

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

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized employment "negatively affects the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he believes driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, the journalist explains he was anxious the reporting could be exploited by the extreme right.

He says this notably impressed him when he discovered that extreme right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity protest was taking place in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working secretly. Signs and flags could be observed at the gathering, displaying "we want our nation returned".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking online response to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin community and report it has sparked strong outrage for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they found stated: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

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

They have also seen allegations that they were agents for the UK government, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish population," one reporter says. "Our objective is to reveal those who have compromised its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and deeply troubled about the actions of such persons."

The majority of those applying for asylum claim they are fleeing politically motivated persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a charity that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He says he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Asylum seekers now receive approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which provides food, according to Home Office regulations.

"Honestly stating, this is not sufficient to sustain a acceptable existence," says Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are largely prevented from working, he believes numerous are vulnerable to being manipulated and are essentially "compelled to labor in the illegal market for as little as three pounds per hour".

A official for the government department stated: "The government make no apology for not granting refugee applicants the right to work - granting this would create an motivation for people to come to the UK without authorization."

Asylum applications can require a long time to be resolved with approximately a 33% requiring over one year, according to official data from the spring this current year.

Saman states working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been very straightforward to accomplish, but he informed the team he would not have done that.

However, he says that those he met employed in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"They used all of their money to travel to the UK, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"When [they] say you're not allowed to work - but simultaneously [you]