Why We Chose to Go Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish men consented to operate secretly to expose a network behind illegal main street enterprises because the criminals are damaging the image of Kurds in the UK, they state.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish reporters who have both resided legally in the UK for a long time.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was managing small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of the United Kingdom, and sought to learn more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Armed with hidden cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no permission to work, looking to acquire and run a mini-mart from which to distribute unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to uncover how simple it is for a person in these circumstances to establish and operate a enterprise on the commercial area in full view. The individuals participating, we discovered, compensate Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their identities, helping to deceive the authorities.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to covertly film one of those at the heart of the organization, who asserted that he could eliminate official penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those using unauthorized employees.

"Personally aimed to contribute in uncovering these unlawful activities [...] to declare that they don't represent Kurdish people," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker personally. Saman entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that covers the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his life was at threat.

The reporters recognize that tensions over unauthorized immigration are high in the UK and say they have both been concerned that the investigation could inflame hostilities.

But Ali says that the illegal labor "harms the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he feels obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Additionally, Ali says he was anxious the publication could be exploited by the extreme right.

He explains this particularly affected him when he realized that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom march was taking place in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating undercover. Signs and banners could be seen at the protest, showing "we demand our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring online response to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and say it has sparked strong frustration for some. One social media comment they observed said: "How can we identify and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

A different urged their families in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered accusations that they were spies for the UK authorities, and traitors to other Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish population," Saman explains. "Our objective is to reveal those who have damaged its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and deeply worried about the behavior of such individuals."

The majority of those seeking refugee status state they are fleeing political oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a charity that assists asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He explains he had to survive on under £20 a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now receive about forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers food, according to Home Office guidance.

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

Because asylum seekers are generally prohibited from employment, he thinks many are vulnerable to being manipulated and are essentially "obligated to work in the illegal economy for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the authorities stated: "We do not apologize for refusing to grant asylum seekers the permission to work - granting this would create an motivation for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Asylum cases can require multiple years to be processed with nearly a 33% requiring more than one year, according to official data from the late March this current year.

The reporter explains being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely simple to achieve, but he informed the team he would not have done that.

However, he says that those he encountered employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"They spent their entire funds to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost their entire investment."

The other reporter agrees that these individuals seemed hopeless.

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