The Reasons We Went Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish-background men decided to go undercover to reveal a network behind illegal main street enterprises because the wrongdoers are damaging the reputation of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they explain.

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

The team uncovered that a Kurdish crime network was managing small shops, hair salons and car washes across the United Kingdom, and aimed to discover more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Equipped with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no authorization to work, seeking to purchase and manage a small shop from which to distribute illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to discover how simple it is for someone in these conditions to start and operate a business on the main street in public view. Those involved, we found, compensate Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the enterprises in their names, helping to mislead the officials.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to secretly record one of those at the heart of the operation, who asserted that he could eliminate government penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those using illegal laborers.

"Personally sought to play a role in revealing these illegal operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't speak for our community," states Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter came to the country illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his well-being was at danger.

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

But Ali explains that the unauthorized working "harms the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he feels compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, Ali explains he was worried the coverage could be exploited by the extreme right.

He says this particularly impressed him when he noticed that far-right activist a prominent activist's national unity march was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Signs and flags could be observed at the rally, showing "we demand our country returned".

The reporters have both been monitoring online response to the exposé from within the Kurdish community and say it has generated significant anger for certain individuals. One Facebook post they spotted read: "In what way can we locate and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

Another demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered allegations that they were agents for the British government, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish community," one reporter states. "Our objective is to reveal those who have compromised its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish heritage and deeply worried about the behavior of such persons."

The majority of those seeking asylum say they are fleeing political discrimination, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the case for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first came to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He states he had to live on less than £20 a per week while his refugee application was considered.

Refugee applicants now get approximately £49 a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which includes food, according to Home Office regulations.

"Honestly stating, this is not sufficient to maintain a respectable lifestyle," states Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly restricted from employment, he thinks many are open to being manipulated and are effectively "compelled to work in the illegal sector for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the government department said: "We do not apologize for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to work - granting this would generate an incentive for individuals to come to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Refugee cases can require a long time to be decided with nearly a 33% requiring more than one year, according to official statistics from the end of March this year.

The reporter states working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been quite straightforward to accomplish, but he told us he would not have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he met laboring in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "lost", notably those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended all their savings to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum refused and now they've lost all they had."

Ali concurs that these people seemed hopeless.

"If [they] state you're not allowed to be employed - but also [you]