The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish individuals agreed to operate secretly to reveal a organization behind unlawful main street businesses because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the image of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they say.

The pair, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both lived legally in the United Kingdom for a long time.

Investigators found that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was managing mini-marts, barbershops and car washes throughout the UK, and sought to discover more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Prepared with covert recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to work, looking to buy and manage a small shop from which to sell unlawful cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how simple it is for an individual in these conditions to set up and run a business on the commercial area in full view. The individuals participating, we found, pay Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their identities, assisting to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also were able to covertly document one of those at the centre of the operation, who asserted that he could remove government sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those using unauthorized workers.

"I aimed to participate in revealing these unlawful activities [...] to say that they don't speak for our community," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. Saman entered the United Kingdom illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that spans the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his well-being was at risk.

The reporters acknowledge that disagreements over illegal migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and state they have both been anxious that the inquiry could worsen tensions.

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized working "harms the entire Kurdish community" and he believes obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

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

He states this notably affected him when he realized that far-right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Signs and flags could be spotted at the rally, displaying "we want our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring online feedback to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has caused strong frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook post they observed stated: "How can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

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

They have also read claims that they were informants for the UK authorities, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter explains. "Our objective is to expose those who have damaged its image. We are honored of our Kurdish heritage and deeply worried about the activities of such individuals."

The majority of those seeking asylum say they are fleeing politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that helps asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was processed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which includes meals, according to official guidance.

"Practically saying, this isn't adequate to support a dignified existence," states the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prohibited from employment, he thinks many are susceptible to being exploited and are effectively "compelled to labor in the illegal market for as little as £3 per hour".

A official for the authorities stated: "The government do not apologize for denying refugee applicants the permission to be employed - doing so would create an incentive for individuals to migrate to the UK illegally."

Refugee cases can require multiple years to be decided with approximately a 33% requiring more than a year, according to government statistics from the late March this year.

Saman states being employed without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been very easy to accomplish, but he told the team he would never have done that.

Nonetheless, he explains that those he met employed in illegal mini-marts during his work seemed "lost", notably those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals spent all their savings to migrate to the UK, they had their refugee application refused and now they've forfeited all they had."

Ali acknowledges that these people seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] state you're not allowed to be employed - but additionally [you]