The Reasons Our Team Went Covert to Expose Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish individuals consented to go undercover to expose a operation behind unlawful commercial enterprises because the wrongdoers are damaging the reputation of Kurdish people in the UK, they explain.

The pair, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish journalists who have both lived legally in the UK for a long time.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was managing convenience stores, barbershops and car washes the length of Britain, and sought to find out more about how it worked and who was participating.

Armed with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no right to be employed, looking to buy and operate a convenience store from which to sell unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to discover how simple it is for an individual in these circumstances to set up and manage a commercial operation on the High Street in full view. The individuals involved, we learned, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to register the operations in their identities, helping to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also were able to discreetly document one of those at the heart of the operation, who stated that he could remove official fines of up to £60k faced those hiring unauthorized workers.

"Personally aimed to play a role in uncovering these illegal operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not represent our community," explains Saman, a ex- refugee applicant himself. The reporter came to the United Kingdom without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his safety was at threat.

The reporters recognize that tensions over illegal immigration are elevated in the United Kingdom and say they have both been concerned that the investigation could worsen tensions.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized labor "harms the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he feels compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, Ali explains he was anxious the reporting could be exploited by the extreme right.

He explains this especially impressed him when he discovered that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was taking place in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working secretly. Banners and banners could be seen at the rally, showing "we want our country back".

Saman and Ali have both been observing online feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish community and say it has caused significant frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they observed stated: "In what way can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

Another urged their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered allegations that they were informants for the UK authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to expose those who have harmed its image. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish heritage and profoundly concerned about the actions of such persons."

The majority of those applying for refugee status claim they are fleeing political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a organization that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to live on under twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now are provided about £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which provides food, according to official regulations.

"Realistically saying, this is not enough to maintain a acceptable lifestyle," explains Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are generally prevented from working, he believes many are vulnerable to being exploited and are essentially "forced to labor in the unofficial market for as low as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities commented: "We make no apology for denying refugee applicants the permission to be employed - granting this would create an reason for individuals to come to the UK without authorization."

Asylum cases can take years to be resolved with approximately a one-third requiring more than one year, according to official data from the spring this current year.

Saman explains working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely straightforward to accomplish, but he told us he would not have participated in that.

However, he states that those he interviewed working in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the legal challenge.

"They expended all of their funds to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

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

"If [they] declare you're prohibited to be employed - but additionally [you]