The Reasons We Chose to Go Covert to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish men agreed to go undercover to reveal a network behind illegal main street businesses because the lawbreakers are damaging the image of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they say.

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

The team discovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was operating convenience stores, barbershops and car washes across the United Kingdom, and wanted to find out more about how it worked and who was involved.

Prepared with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no authorization to work, seeking to acquire and run a mini-mart from which to distribute contraband tobacco products and vapes.

They were able to uncover how simple it is for a person in these conditions to establish and manage a enterprise on the High Street in public view. Those involved, we learned, pay Kurds who have UK citizenship to register the businesses in their identities, enabling to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly film one of those at the core of the operation, who claimed that he could remove official sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those using unauthorized laborers.

"I wanted to contribute in uncovering these illegal practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize Kurdish people," explains Saman, a ex- asylum seeker personally. Saman came to the UK without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that covers the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his well-being was at danger.

The journalists acknowledge that disagreements over illegal immigration are elevated in the UK and say they have both been worried that the inquiry could inflame conflicts.

But Ali explains that the unauthorized working "harms the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he believes compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Additionally, the journalist explains he was concerned the reporting could be exploited by the radical right.

He says this particularly struck him when he realized that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Banners and banners could be observed at the protest, reading "we want our nation returned".

The reporters have both been observing social media feedback to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has generated strong anger for some. One Facebook comment they observed stated: "In what way can we locate and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

A different demanded their families in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered claims that they were agents for the UK authorities, and betrayers to other Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish-origin community," Saman states. "Our aim is to reveal those who have harmed its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and extremely concerned about the behavior of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for refugee status state they are escaping politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a organization that assists asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He states he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers now receive about forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which provides meals, according to government policies.

"Practically speaking, this isn't sufficient to sustain a dignified lifestyle," states Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely prohibited from working, he feels many are open to being manipulated and are effectively "obligated to labor in the black market for as little as £3 per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities said: "We make no apology for not granting refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - granting this would establish an reason for people to travel to the UK without authorization."

Asylum cases can take multiple years to be processed with almost a third requiring more than 12 months, according to official figures from the spring this year.

Saman states working without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been very straightforward to accomplish, but he told us he would never have done that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he encountered working in unauthorized mini-marts during his investigation seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They spent their entire money to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've forfeited everything."

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

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