The Reasons Our Team Went Covert to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

A pair of Kurdish individuals agreed to work covertly to reveal a network behind illegal main street businesses because the lawbreakers are causing harm the reputation of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they say.

The two, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish journalists who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for a long time.

The team found that a Kurdish criminal operation was operating convenience stores, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of Britain, and wanted to find out more about how it operated and who was participating.

Equipped with hidden recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no authorization to be employed, seeking to buy and run a convenience store from which to trade illegal cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to discover how easy it is for a person in these situations to establish and operate a enterprise on the commercial area in full view. Those involved, we found, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their names, helping to mislead the officials.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to discreetly film one of those at the centre of the operation, who claimed that he could remove official penalties of up to £60,000 encountered those hiring unauthorized laborers.

"Personally wanted to participate in exposing these illegal operations [...] to declare that they don't characterize our community," says Saman, a former asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the United Kingdom illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his safety was at threat.

The investigators admit that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are significant in the UK and state they have both been concerned that the investigation could worsen hostilities.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized labor "damages the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he believes driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

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

He states this notably struck him when he realized that radical right activist a prominent activist's national unity rally was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was working secretly. Signs and banners could be spotted at the protest, showing "we demand our nation back".

Both journalists have both been tracking social media reaction to the exposé from inside the Kurdish community and report it has generated strong outrage for certain individuals. One Facebook post they observed read: "In what way can we locate and track [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

A different urged their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also encountered allegations that they were informants for the British government, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish population," Saman says. "Our aim is to expose those who have compromised its reputation. We are proud of our Kurdish heritage and extremely worried about the behavior of such people."

The majority of those seeking refugee status claim they are escaping politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a charity that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, struggled for many years. He says he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about £49 a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which includes meals, according to official guidance.

"Honestly saying, this isn't enough to maintain a acceptable existence," says the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely prevented from working, he feels many are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are essentially "forced to work in the illegal economy for as low as £3 per hour".

A official for the authorities commented: "The government do not apologize for refusing to grant refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - granting this would establish an incentive for individuals to travel to the UK illegally."

Asylum applications can require a long time to be resolved with approximately a 33% taking over one year, according to official data from the late March this current year.

The reporter says being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite simple to do, but he explained to us he would not have participated in that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he encountered working in illegal convenience stores during his research seemed "confused", particularly those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended their entire savings to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost their entire investment."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed hopeless.

"When [they] say you're not allowed to work - but additionally [you]