Why Our Team Went Covert to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish individuals decided to operate secretly to uncover a organization behind illegal main street enterprises because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the standing of Kurdish people in the UK, they state.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both lived legally in the UK for a long time.

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was managing small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of the UK, and aimed to learn more about how it operated and who was participating.

Prepared with secret cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish asylum seekers with no right to work, seeking to buy and operate a small shop from which to distribute contraband cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were able to reveal how simple it is for an individual in these situations to set up and operate a commercial operation on the main street in plain sight. Those participating, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to legally establish the operations in their identities, helping to mislead the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also were able to secretly record one of those at the core of the network, who claimed that he could erase official sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those hiring illegal laborers.

"Personally sought to contribute in exposing these illegal practices [...] to say that they do not speak for Kurdish people," states one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker personally. The reporter came to the country without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his well-being was at risk.

The investigators recognize that disagreements over unauthorized migration are significant in the UK and state they have both been anxious that the probe could inflame conflicts.

But Ali explains that the illegal labor "damages the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he feels driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, the journalist mentions he was worried the reporting could be exploited by the radical right.

He says this especially struck him when he noticed that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity rally was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was operating secretly. Signs and flags could be seen at the gathering, displaying "we want our nation back".

The reporters have both been observing social media feedback to the inquiry from within the Kurdish community and explain it has sparked significant anger for some. One Facebook message they found said: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

Another urged their relatives in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also seen claims that they were agents for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish-origin population," Saman says. "Our objective is to expose those who have damaged its image. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish heritage and deeply troubled about the activities of such individuals."

Most of those applying for asylum say they are escaping political oppression, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that assists refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the UK, struggled for years. He explains he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which provides food, according to official policies.

"Realistically saying, this isn't enough to sustain a acceptable lifestyle," says the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prohibited from working, he believes many are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are effectively "forced to work in the unofficial economy for as low as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the Home Office said: "The government make no apology for not granting asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - doing so would generate an reason for individuals to come to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum applications can take years to be resolved with approximately a one-third taking more than a year, according to official figures from the end of March this year.

Saman states working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely straightforward to accomplish, but he told the team he would not have done that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he encountered laboring in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "disoriented", especially those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the legal challenge.

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

Ali concurs that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"When [they] declare you're prohibited to be employed - but additionally [you]