Why We Chose to Go Covert to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals decided to work covertly to expose a organization behind illegal High Street businesses because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the image of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they state.

The two, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for a long time.

Investigators found that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was managing convenience stores, hair salons and car washes the length of the UK, and sought to learn more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Prepared with secret cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to be employed, looking to buy and operate a small shop from which to sell unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to discover how straightforward it is for an individual in these circumstances to establish and manage a commercial operation on the commercial area in full view. Those participating, we learned, pay Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their names, assisting to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to discreetly document one of those at the core of the operation, who claimed that he could remove government penalties of up to £60,000 imposed on those employing unauthorized laborers.

"Personally sought to participate in uncovering these illegal activities [...] to say that they do not represent our community," says Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter entered the UK illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a region that covers the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his safety was at risk.

The reporters acknowledge that tensions over illegal migration are elevated in the UK and state they have both been anxious that the inquiry could intensify conflicts.

But the other reporter states that the unauthorized employment "harms the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he believes obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, Ali explains he was concerned the publication could be seized upon by the far-right.

He says this particularly impressed him when he realized that far-right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating secretly. Signs and flags could be seen at the gathering, showing "we demand our country back".

Both journalists have both been tracking social media response to the investigation from within the Kurdish community and say it has sparked strong frustration for certain individuals. One social media post they found stated: "How can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

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

They have also read accusations that they were spies for the British government, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish-origin community," Saman states. "Our objective is to reveal those who have harmed its image. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and deeply troubled about the behavior of such individuals."

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

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He explains he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was considered.

Asylum seekers now are provided about £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which includes meals, according to Home Office regulations.

"Honestly stating, this is not adequate to sustain a respectable existence," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are generally prevented from working, he believes numerous are open to being manipulated and are practically "compelled to labor in the unofficial economy for as little as three pounds per hour".

A official for the Home Office stated: "We make no apology for not granting asylum seekers the right to work - doing so would create an reason for people to travel to the UK without authorization."

Refugee cases can take multiple years to be resolved with approximately a one-third taking over a year, according to official figures from the end of March this current year.

The reporter states being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely simple to accomplish, but he informed the team he would not have done that.

Nonetheless, he explains that those he met laboring in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", notably those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals expended all of their money 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 people seemed hopeless.

"If [they] declare you're forbidden to be employed - but simultaneously [you]