The Reasons We Chose to Go Undercover to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals decided to operate secretly to reveal a network behind unlawful commercial businesses because the wrongdoers are damaging the reputation of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they explain.

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

The team discovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was managing mini-marts, hair salons and car washes throughout the United Kingdom, and wanted to learn more about how it operated and who was involved.

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

They were successful to discover how easy it is for an individual in these circumstances to set up and manage a business on the main street in public view. The individuals participating, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their names, assisting to fool the officials.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to covertly film one of those at the core of the operation, who stated that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to £60,000 encountered those hiring unauthorized laborers.

"I aimed to contribute in uncovering these illegal activities [...] to say that they do not characterize Kurdish people," says Saman, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the UK without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that straddles the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a nation - because his life was at threat.

The reporters acknowledge that disagreements over illegal migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and say they have both been concerned that the probe could worsen tensions.

But Ali states that the unauthorized labor "harms the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he considers compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, Ali mentions he was concerned the publication could be used by the far-right.

He says this especially impressed him when he realized that radical right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity protest was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was operating undercover. Placards and flags could be observed at the rally, showing "we demand our nation back".

The reporters have both been monitoring social media response to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin community and say it has generated strong anger for some. One Facebook post they found said: "In what way can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

Another urged their families in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also seen allegations that they were agents for the UK government, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish-origin community," Saman says. "Our objective is to expose those who have damaged its standing. We are honored of our Kurdish identity and profoundly troubled about the activities of such people."

Most of those applying for asylum claim they are fleeing political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, struggled for many years. He states he had to live on under £20 a per week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now receive about forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which offers food, according to government regulations.

"Honestly speaking, this is not adequate to maintain a respectable lifestyle," states Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are generally prevented from working, he believes numerous are vulnerable to being manipulated and are essentially "forced to labor in the unofficial market for as little as three pounds per hour".

A representative for the government department commented: "We do not apologize for denying asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - granting this would create an incentive for people to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum applications can take 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 says working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely simple to accomplish, but he informed us he would never have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he encountered employed in illegal mini-marts during his investigation seemed "confused", especially those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals expended all of their savings to travel to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've sacrificed everything."

The other reporter acknowledges that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] say you're forbidden to be employed - but simultaneously [you]