Why Our Team Went Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Population

A pair of Kurdish men decided to work covertly to reveal a operation behind unlawful main street enterprises because the wrongdoers are damaging the reputation of Kurdish people in the UK, they state.

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

The team found that a Kurdish crime network was operating mini-marts, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and wanted to learn more about how it worked and who was taking part.

Equipped with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no permission to work, attempting to buy and run a convenience store from which to sell illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to discover how simple it is for someone in these circumstances to establish and run a enterprise on the High Street in full view. The individuals participating, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the operations in their names, enabling to mislead the authorities.

Ali and Saman also were able to secretly film one of those at the core of the organization, who stated that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to £60,000 encountered those using illegal workers.

"I wanted to play a role in exposing these illegal operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not characterize Kurdish people," says one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker personally. Saman came to the country illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a country - because his safety was at risk.

The investigators recognize that disagreements over illegal immigration are high in the United Kingdom and say they have both been worried that the probe could intensify conflicts.

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized labor "negatively affects the whole Kurdish community" and he considers driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, Ali says he was worried the coverage could be seized upon by the far-right.

He says this particularly impressed him when he noticed that far-right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity protest was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Banners and banners could be observed at the rally, reading "we want our nation returned".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring online response to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and report it has caused intense outrage for certain individuals. One social media comment they spotted stated: "How can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

One more demanded their relatives in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also read accusations that they were agents for the UK government, and traitors to other Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter says. "Our objective is to expose those who have compromised its reputation. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and profoundly troubled about the actions of such people."

The majority of those applying for asylum state they are fleeing politically motivated persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a charity that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, struggled for many years. He states he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was processed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which provides meals, according to official policies.

"Honestly saying, this is not adequate to maintain a acceptable existence," states the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are largely prevented from working, he feels a significant number are vulnerable to being exploited and are practically "compelled to labor in the illegal economy for as low as £3 per hourly rate".

A official for the authorities commented: "The government do not apologize for refusing to grant asylum seekers the permission to work - doing so would establish an incentive for people to migrate to the UK illegally."

Asylum applications can take multiple years to be resolved with nearly a one-third requiring more than a year, according to official figures from the spring this year.

Saman says being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been quite simple to accomplish, but he informed us he would never have done that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he encountered laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "confused", notably those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They spent all their savings to come to the UK, they had their refugee application refused and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed desperate.

"When [they] declare you're not allowed to be employed - but simultaneously [you]