The Reasons We Went Covert to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish Population

Two Kurdish individuals agreed to work covertly to reveal a operation behind unlawful main street establishments because the lawbreakers are damaging the standing of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they say.

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

The team found that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was running mini-marts, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across Britain, and sought to discover more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Armed with secret cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to work, attempting to buy and manage a small shop from which to sell illegal cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to uncover how easy it is for a person in these conditions to start and manage a commercial operation on the main street in public view. Those participating, we discovered, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their names, enabling to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also managed to covertly document one of those at the centre of the organization, who asserted that he could erase official fines of up to £60k encountered those using illegal laborers.

"Personally aimed to play a role in exposing these unlawful operations [...] to say that they don't characterize Kurdish people," states Saman, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the UK illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that spans the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his safety was at threat.

The investigators recognize that conflicts over unauthorized migration are significant in the UK and state they have both been anxious that the investigation could intensify hostilities.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized employment "negatively affects the whole Kurdish community" and he considers obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Additionally, Ali mentions he was worried the publication could be used by the far-right.

He states this notably affected him when he discovered that far-right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working secretly. Banners and flags could be spotted at the rally, reading "we want our nation back".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking social media response to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin population and say it has caused intense anger for certain individuals. One social media post they observed read: "In what way can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

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

They have also seen allegations that they were agents for the UK authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish population," Saman states. "Our aim is to expose those who have harmed its standing. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and deeply troubled about the activities of such people."

The majority of those applying for refugee status claim they are escaping political persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that assists asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for years. He explains he had to live on less than £20 a week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which includes food, according to Home Office regulations.

"Practically speaking, this is not enough to support a acceptable existence," states the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are largely prohibited from employment, he believes many are open to being exploited and are practically "forced to labor in the illegal sector for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A representative for the Home Office stated: "We do not apologize for not granting refugee applicants the permission to work - doing so would generate an incentive for individuals to come to the UK without authorization."

Asylum cases can require years to be decided with almost a third taking more than one year, according to official statistics from the late March this year.

The reporter explains being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely straightforward to achieve, but he informed the team he would never have done that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he encountered laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his investigation seemed "confused", notably those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals expended all their savings to migrate to the UK, they had their refugee application denied and now they've sacrificed everything."

The other reporter agrees that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"When [they] state you're not allowed to work - but also [you]