Why Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

A pair of Kurdish individuals consented to go undercover to expose a network behind illegal High Street establishments because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they explain.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for a long time.

The team discovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was running convenience stores, barbershops and car washes across the UK, and wanted to learn more about how it worked and who was involved.

Prepared with hidden cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no right to be employed, seeking to purchase and manage a small shop from which to trade illegal tobacco products and vapes.

They were able to discover how simple it is for an individual in these circumstances to establish and manage a business on the commercial area in full view. Those involved, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the operations in their names, assisting to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly document one of those at the heart of the operation, who claimed that he could remove government fines of up to £60k encountered those using illegal employees.

"Personally wanted to participate in exposing these illegal activities [...] to declare that they don't characterize Kurdish people," says Saman, a former asylum seeker himself. Saman entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having escaped from Kurdistan - a area that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a state - because his well-being was at danger.

The reporters admit that conflicts over illegal migration are significant in the UK and say they have both been anxious that the investigation could worsen tensions.

But the other reporter says that the illegal working "harms the entire Kurdish community" and he believes obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, Ali says he was concerned the reporting could be used by the far-right.

He explains this particularly affected him when he noticed that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Banners and banners could be spotted at the protest, reading "we want our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring social media reaction to the inquiry from within the Kurdish-origin population and say it has generated strong frustration for certain individuals. One social media post they observed stated: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

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

They have also encountered allegations that they were informants for the UK authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish-origin community," Saman states. "Our goal is to expose those who have harmed its standing. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and extremely worried about the activities of such individuals."

Most of those seeking refugee status claim they are fleeing political persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that assists asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, struggled for many years. He says he had to survive on under twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers now get about forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which offers food, according to official policies.

"Honestly stating, this is not adequate to support a acceptable lifestyle," explains Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely prevented from employment, he feels numerous are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are effectively "forced to labor in the illegal sector for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the government department stated: "The government make no apology for refusing to grant refugee applicants the permission to be employed - granting this would generate an reason for people to come to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee applications can take multiple years to be decided with nearly a one-third requiring more than 12 months, according to official figures from the spring this year.

Saman says being employed without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been quite straightforward to do, but he informed the team he would never have engaged in that.

However, he states that those he interviewed laboring in illegal mini-marts during his research seemed "confused", notably those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"They used all their funds to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost everything."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] state you're not allowed to work - but also [you]