Why Our Team Went Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

Two Kurdish individuals decided to work covertly to uncover a operation behind illegal commercial establishments because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the standing of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they say.

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 discovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was managing convenience stores, barbershops and car washes across the United Kingdom, and wanted to discover more about how it worked and who was participating.

Armed with covert recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no right to be employed, seeking to buy and operate a small shop from which to trade illegal cigarettes and vapes.

They were successful to uncover how straightforward it is for a person in these situations to establish and run a commercial operation on the High Street in public view. The individuals involved, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the operations in their identities, helping to mislead the government agencies.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to covertly film one of those at the core of the operation, who asserted that he could eliminate government fines of up to £60,000 imposed on those employing unauthorized employees.

"I sought to play a role in exposing these unlawful operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize Kurdish people," says one reporter, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the country illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a area that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a country - because his life was at risk.

The journalists admit that disagreements over illegal migration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the investigation could inflame tensions.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized labor "harms the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he considers obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, the journalist explains he was concerned the publication could be used by the radical right.

He explains this notably affected him when he realized that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity protest was taking place in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working covertly. Placards and flags could be spotted at the gathering, displaying "we want our nation back".

Both journalists have both been tracking social media feedback to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish population and report it has caused strong outrage for certain individuals. One Facebook message they found read: "How can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

A different called for their families in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also seen accusations that they were spies for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish population," one reporter states. "Our aim is to reveal those who have harmed its standing. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish heritage and extremely worried about the behavior of such persons."

Most of those seeking asylum state they are fleeing political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that helps asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for many years. He states he had to live on under £20 a week while his refugee application was processed.

Refugee applicants now receive approximately £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers food, according to official policies.

"Honestly saying, this isn't adequate to support a respectable existence," states the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prohibited from employment, he believes many are vulnerable to being manipulated and are practically "obligated to labor in the black market for as low as three pounds per hour".

A representative for the authorities said: "The government make no apology for not granting refugee applicants the authorization to work - granting this would establish an reason for individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum applications can take a long time to be resolved with nearly a one-third taking more than a year, according to government figures from the late March this current year.

Saman states working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been quite straightforward to accomplish, but he informed the team he would not have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he interviewed laboring in unauthorized mini-marts during his work seemed "confused", particularly those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"They spent all their savings to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum rejected and now they've forfeited all they had."

The other reporter acknowledges that these individuals seemed desperate.

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