Why Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

Two Kurdish-background men agreed to work covertly to expose a organization behind unlawful main street establishments because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they state.

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

The team found that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was operating convenience stores, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services throughout the UK, and wanted to find out more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Equipped with covert recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to work, attempting to purchase and operate a convenience store from which to trade unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how easy it is for someone in these conditions to establish and manage a commercial operation on the High Street in plain sight. The individuals involved, we learned, compensate Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the enterprises in their identities, helping to deceive the officials.

Ali and Saman also managed to discreetly film one of those at the core of the network, who asserted that he could erase official penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those employing illegal laborers.

"I wanted to play a role in uncovering these illegal practices [...] to declare that they do not represent our community," explains Saman, a ex- refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the UK without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his safety was at threat.

The investigators recognize that conflicts over illegal migration are elevated in the UK and state they have both been concerned that the investigation could worsen hostilities.

But Ali states that the unauthorized employment "harms the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he considers compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, Ali mentions he was anxious the reporting could be seized upon by the far-right.

He states this notably impressed him when he noticed that extreme right activist a prominent activist's national unity march was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating covertly. Banners and banners could be observed at the protest, reading "we demand our country returned".

Both journalists have both been observing online reaction to the exposé from within the Kurdish population and explain it has sparked intense frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they observed read: "In what way can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

One more demanded their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also read claims that they were agents for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish community," one reporter explains. "Our aim is to expose those who have damaged its reputation. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin heritage and extremely troubled about the behavior of such persons."

The majority of those seeking refugee status say they are escaping political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He explains he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now are provided approximately £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which includes food, according to Home Office guidance.

"Honestly speaking, this is not adequate to support a acceptable life," states the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are largely prevented from working, he feels numerous are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are essentially "forced to labor in the black economy for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A representative for the authorities commented: "We are unapologetic for refusing to grant asylum seekers the permission to be employed - granting this would create an reason for individuals to come to the UK without authorization."

Asylum applications can require years to be processed with nearly a third requiring more than 12 months, according to official data from the spring this year.

Saman says being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been quite straightforward to accomplish, but he informed the team he would not have participated in that.

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

"They used their entire money to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

The other reporter concurs that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] say you're forbidden to work - but simultaneously [you]