Why Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals decided to go undercover to reveal a organization behind illegal main street enterprises because the criminals are damaging the image of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they state.

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

The team uncovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was managing convenience stores, barbershops and car washes the length of the United Kingdom, and wanted to learn more about how it operated and who was participating.

Prepared with hidden recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to work, seeking to acquire and manage a mini-mart from which to sell contraband cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to uncover how easy it is for an individual in these circumstances to establish and run a business on the High Street in full view. Those involved, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the enterprises in their names, helping to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also managed to secretly film one of those at the core of the network, who stated that he could erase official sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those hiring unauthorized employees.

"Personally aimed to contribute in revealing these unlawful operations [...] to declare that they don't speak for our community," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the country without authorization, having escaped from Kurdistan - a territory that spans the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a state - because his well-being was at risk.

The journalists admit that disagreements over unauthorized migration are high in the UK and state they have both been concerned that the investigation could intensify hostilities.

But Ali states that the illegal employment "negatively affects the whole Kurdish population" and he believes compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Additionally, Ali mentions he was worried the reporting could be exploited by the far-right.

He states this particularly struck him when he realized that radical right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Banners and flags could be seen at the rally, showing "we demand our country returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring online reaction to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin community and report it has generated strong anger for some. One social media post they spotted stated: "How can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

Another urged their families in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also seen allegations that they were informants for the British authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of damaging the Kurdish population," one reporter says. "Our aim is to uncover those who have compromised its standing. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and extremely worried about the activities of such people."

Most of those applying for refugee status state they are escaping politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a charity that assists refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he initially came to the UK, faced difficulties for years. He explains he had to live on less than twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was considered.

Refugee applicants now get approximately £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which includes food, according to official policies.

"Honestly stating, this isn't enough to support a dignified life," states Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are largely prohibited from employment, he thinks numerous are susceptible to being exploited and are effectively "forced to work in the black sector for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A representative for the authorities stated: "We make no apology for refusing to grant asylum seekers the right to work - granting this would establish an motivation for individuals to travel to the UK without authorization."

Refugee applications can require a long time to be decided with approximately a 33% taking more than a year, according to official statistics from the spring this year.

Saman says being employed without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been very straightforward to accomplish, but he informed us he would not have done that.

However, he explains that those he met laboring in illegal mini-marts during his work seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals spent all of their funds to travel to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've lost all they had."

The other reporter agrees that these individuals seemed desperate.

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