The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish individuals decided to operate secretly to reveal a network behind illegal commercial businesses because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the standing of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.

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

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was operating mini-marts, barbershops and car washes throughout the United Kingdom, and wanted to find out more about how it worked and who was involved.

Armed with hidden recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to be employed, looking to purchase and manage a convenience store from which to sell contraband cigarettes and vapes.

They were able to reveal how easy it is for someone in these conditions to set up and run a commercial operation on the High Street in public view. Those involved, we discovered, pay Kurds who have UK citizenship to register the enterprises in their names, assisting to mislead the authorities.

Ali and Saman also were able to discreetly record one of those at the centre of the network, who stated that he could remove official fines of up to £60k imposed on those hiring unauthorized employees.

"I aimed to contribute in revealing these illegal operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize Kurdish people," states one reporter, a former asylum seeker personally. Saman entered the country illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a territory that straddles the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his well-being was at threat.

The investigators acknowledge that tensions over unauthorized immigration are elevated in the UK and state they have both been concerned that the investigation could worsen tensions.

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized working "negatively affects the entire Kurdish community" and he believes compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, Ali says he was worried the reporting could be exploited by the extreme right.

He states this notably affected him when he noticed that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was working secretly. Signs and banners could be seen at the rally, reading "we want our nation returned".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking online reaction to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin community and say it has sparked strong outrage for some. One social media post they spotted read: "In what way can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

A different demanded their relatives in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also encountered accusations that they were spies for the British authorities, and betrayers to other Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish population," one reporter says. "Our objective is to expose those who have harmed its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish heritage and extremely worried about the behavior of such individuals."

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

This was the case for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to live on less than £20 a week while his refugee application was considered.

Refugee applicants now are provided approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which offers meals, according to official policies.

"Practically stating, this is not adequate to maintain a acceptable lifestyle," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prevented from employment, he feels a significant number are open to being exploited and are effectively "forced to labor in the illegal economy for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the government department commented: "We make no apology for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to work - granting this would create an reason for people to travel to the UK without authorization."

Refugee applications can take multiple years to be processed with approximately a one-third taking more than one year, according to government statistics from the end of March this current year.

Saman says being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite simple to do, but he told the team he would not have participated in that.

However, he states that those he encountered laboring in unauthorized mini-marts during his work seemed "lost", particularly those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

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

Ali acknowledges that these people seemed hopeless.

"When [they] state you're prohibited to be employed - but additionally [you]