The Reasons Our Team Went Covert to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Population

Two Kurdish individuals consented to work covertly to reveal a network behind unlawful High Street establishments because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the image of Kurds in the UK, they state.

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

The team uncovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was running convenience stores, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services the length of the United Kingdom, and wanted to learn more about how it worked and who was taking part.

Equipped with hidden recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no right to work, looking to acquire and operate a small shop from which to distribute unlawful cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how straightforward it is for a person in these situations to establish and run a business on the main street in full view. The individuals participating, we learned, compensate Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the operations in their names, enabling to fool the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also were able to covertly film one of those at the heart of the operation, who claimed that he could remove government penalties of up to £60,000 faced those employing unauthorized laborers.

"I aimed to play a role in revealing these illegal operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not represent Kurdish people," says one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant personally. Saman entered the UK illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his life was at risk.

The journalists admit that tensions over illegal migration are elevated in the UK and explain they have both been concerned that the probe could worsen tensions.

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

Additionally, Ali explains he was anxious the reporting could be exploited by the far-right.

He states this particularly impressed him when he realized that far-right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity rally was taking place in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working covertly. Banners and banners could be spotted at the protest, displaying "we demand our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been tracking online reaction to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin community and say it has sparked strong outrage for certain individuals. One social media comment they observed read: "In what way can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

A different demanded their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered claims that they were agents for the UK government, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish population," Saman states. "Our aim is to reveal those who have damaged its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and profoundly concerned about the behavior of such persons."

Most of those applying for refugee status claim they are fleeing politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that helps asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He explains he had to survive on less than £20 a week while his asylum claim was processed.

Refugee applicants now get approximately £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which provides meals, according to government regulations.

"Practically saying, this is not adequate to maintain a dignified life," states Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are largely restricted from working, he thinks numerous are vulnerable to being manipulated and are essentially "obligated to labor in the black sector for as little as £3 per hour".

A official for the Home Office stated: "We make no apology for refusing to grant refugee applicants the permission to be employed - doing so would generate an motivation for individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee cases can require years to be resolved with approximately a third taking over 12 months, according to government data from the end of March this current year.

Saman states being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been extremely straightforward to do, but he explained to the team he would not have done that.

However, he says that those he encountered employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his investigation seemed "confused", particularly those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"They used their entire savings to come to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've forfeited all they had."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed desperate.

"When [they] state you're prohibited to be employed - but simultaneously [you]