The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish individuals consented to work covertly to reveal a network behind unlawful main street businesses because the criminals are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurdish people in the Britain, they say.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish journalists who have both lived legally in the United Kingdom for many years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was operating convenience stores, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services the length of the United Kingdom, and aimed to find out more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Armed with covert recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no right to work, attempting to buy and manage a mini-mart from which to trade illegal cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were able to uncover how straightforward it is for an individual in these circumstances to set up and run a commercial operation on the High Street in plain sight. Those participating, we discovered, pay Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the enterprises in their names, assisting to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly document one of those at the core of the network, who asserted that he could eliminate official penalties of up to £60k imposed on those employing illegal workers.

"I wanted to play a role in exposing these unlawful practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize our community," explains Saman, a ex- refugee applicant personally. Saman entered the UK illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a territory 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 admit that tensions over unauthorized immigration are high in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been concerned that the probe could worsen tensions.

But Ali says that the unauthorized labor "negatively affects the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he feels driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, the journalist says he was worried the publication could be used by the extreme right.

He states this particularly struck him when he discovered that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity protest was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating undercover. Placards and flags could be spotted at the gathering, displaying "we demand our nation returned".

The reporters have both been tracking online feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and report it has generated intense anger for certain individuals. One social media comment they found read: "How can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

One more called for their families in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also seen allegations that they were informants for the UK authorities, and betrayers to other Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of damaging the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter states. "Our goal is to expose those who have compromised its reputation. We are proud of our Kurdish identity and profoundly worried about the actions of such people."

The majority of those applying for refugee status state they are fleeing political oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that helps asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he first arrived to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to live on less than £20 a per week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now are provided about £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which includes meals, according to government policies.

"Realistically saying, this is not adequate to support a respectable lifestyle," explains Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely restricted from working, he believes many are vulnerable to being exploited and are effectively "obligated to work in the unofficial market for as low as three pounds per hour".

A official for the authorities commented: "The government are unapologetic for refusing to grant asylum seekers the right to work - doing so would establish an motivation for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Refugee applications can require multiple years to be resolved with approximately a third taking over 12 months, according to government data from the late March this year.

Saman says working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been very simple to accomplish, but he told us he would not have engaged in that.

However, he explains that those he encountered laboring in illegal convenience stores during his research seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals used all of their savings to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

Ali concurs that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] say you're forbidden to be employed - but also [you]