The Reasons Our Team Went Covert to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish men agreed to go undercover to uncover a operation behind unlawful commercial enterprises because the criminals are causing harm the standing of Kurds in the UK, they say.

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

The team found that a Kurdish-linked crime network was managing mini-marts, hair salons and car washes the length of Britain, and sought to find out more about how it worked and who was participating.

Prepared with secret recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to work, seeking to acquire and manage a mini-mart from which to trade illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to reveal how easy it is for an individual in these situations to start and manage a commercial operation on the High Street in full view. The individuals involved, we found, compensate Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the operations in their identities, helping to fool the officials.

Ali and Saman also were able to secretly document one of those at the heart of the network, who asserted that he could erase official fines of up to £60,000 faced those using unauthorized workers.

"I sought to contribute in revealing these illegal operations [...] to declare that they don't characterize Kurdish people," states Saman, a ex- refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the country illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a territory that straddles the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his life was at danger.

The investigators recognize that tensions over illegal immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the investigation could inflame hostilities.

But the other reporter says that the illegal labor "damages the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he believes driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, Ali says he was concerned the reporting could be used by the radical right.

He says this notably affected him when he discovered that extreme right activist a prominent activist's national unity march was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Signs and flags could be observed at the protest, reading "we demand our country back".

The reporters have both been tracking online response to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has generated strong frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook post they observed read: "How can we identify and locate [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

Another called for their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also read claims that they were spies for the British authorities, and betrayers to other Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter explains. "Our objective is to reveal those who have compromised its reputation. We are proud of our Kurdish identity and deeply worried about the behavior of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for asylum state they are escaping political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that helps asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to live on less than twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers now receive about £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which provides meals, according to official regulations.

"Practically saying, this isn't enough to maintain a dignified existence," says Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prevented from employment, he believes numerous are susceptible to being manipulated and are essentially "obligated to labor in the illegal market for as little as £3 per hour".

A official for the authorities stated: "The government are unapologetic for not granting refugee applicants the right to work - granting this would establish an motivation for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Refugee cases can require multiple years to be resolved with nearly a third taking more than a year, according to government figures from the end of March this year.

The reporter explains being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been very straightforward to achieve, but he explained to the team he would never have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he met employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his work seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"They expended all of their funds to travel to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've lost everything."

The other reporter acknowledges that these people seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] state you're forbidden to work - but also [you]