The Reasons Our Team Went Undercover to Expose Crime in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish individuals consented to go undercover to uncover a organization behind illegal High Street businesses because the criminals are causing harm the reputation of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they explain.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish journalists who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was running small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and wanted to learn more about how it operated and who was participating.

Equipped with covert cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no authorization to be employed, seeking to acquire and manage a small shop from which to sell illegal cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to uncover how straightforward it is for someone in these conditions to set up and manage a business on the main street in plain sight. The individuals involved, we learned, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their identities, helping to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also managed to covertly film one of those at the centre of the operation, who stated that he could erase government penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those employing illegal laborers.

"I sought to participate in uncovering these illegal activities [...] to say that they do not speak for Kurdish people," states Saman, a ex- refugee applicant himself. Saman came to the country without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that spans the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his well-being was at danger.

The reporters admit that conflicts over unauthorized migration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been concerned that the investigation could inflame conflicts.

But Ali explains that the illegal employment "harms the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he believes compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, the journalist explains he was concerned the coverage could be exploited by the radical right.

He says this especially affected him when he discovered that far-right activist a prominent activist's national unity march was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Banners and banners could be observed at the gathering, displaying "we demand our nation back".

Both journalists have both been observing social media feedback to the investigation from inside the Kurdish-origin community and explain it has generated significant frustration for some. One Facebook post they observed stated: "In what way can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

One more called for their relatives in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also encountered accusations that they were agents for the UK authorities, and traitors to other Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish population," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to reveal those who have harmed its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish heritage and profoundly concerned about the activities of such people."

Most of those seeking asylum state they are escaping political oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a charity that supports asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he first came to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to live on under £20 a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

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

"Realistically stating, this is not adequate to sustain a respectable life," explains the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prevented from employment, he believes a significant number are vulnerable to being manipulated and are effectively "forced to work in the unofficial economy for as low as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities stated: "The government make no apology for not granting asylum seekers the authorization to work - granting this would establish an incentive for people to migrate to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum applications can take multiple years to be decided with approximately a one-third requiring over 12 months, according to official data from the end of March this current year.

The reporter states working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been very easy to do, but he told us he would not have engaged in that.

However, he explains that those he met laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "confused", especially those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"They spent all of their savings to migrate to the UK, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've forfeited everything."

The other reporter acknowledges that these people seemed hopeless.

"If [they] declare you're forbidden to be employed - but also [you]