The Reasons Our Team Went Undercover to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals consented to work covertly to reveal a operation behind unlawful main street businesses because the criminals are causing harm the standing of Kurdish people in the Britain, they explain.

The two, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both lived lawfully in the UK for a long time.

Investigators found that a Kurdish-linked crime network was running mini-marts, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services the length of Britain, and wanted to learn more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Armed with hidden cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no permission to be employed, seeking to acquire and manage a mini-mart from which to trade illegal tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were able to discover how easy it is for a person in these circumstances to establish and manage a commercial operation on the commercial area in public view. Those involved, we discovered, compensate Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their identities, assisting to deceive the officials.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to discreetly document one of those at the centre of the operation, who asserted that he could erase official sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those using unauthorized workers.

"I aimed to play a role in revealing these illegal activities [...] to declare that they do not characterize our community," says Saman, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter came to the country illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a territory that straddles the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a nation - because his life was at danger.

The investigators recognize that disagreements over illegal migration are high in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been concerned that the inquiry could inflame conflicts.

But Ali explains that the illegal employment "negatively affects the entire Kurdish population" and he believes obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, the journalist explains he was concerned the publication could be seized upon by the extreme right.

He states this notably struck him when he realized that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity rally was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Placards and flags could be seen at the gathering, displaying "we want our nation back".

The reporters have both been observing online reaction to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has generated intense outrage for some. One Facebook message they found read: "In what way can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

A different urged their relatives in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also seen claims that they were agents for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish-origin community," Saman says. "Our goal is to uncover those who have harmed its image. We are honored of our Kurdish heritage and deeply concerned about the behavior of such persons."

The majority of those applying for asylum claim they are escaping politically motivated persecution, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he initially came to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He states he had to live on under twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was considered.

Refugee applicants now are provided about £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers food, according to official policies.

"Practically speaking, this isn't adequate to support a dignified lifestyle," states the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly restricted from employment, he believes many are susceptible to being manipulated and are essentially "compelled to labor in the black sector for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the government department said: "We do not apologize for refusing to grant refugee applicants the authorization to work - granting this would generate an motivation for individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee applications can take years to be processed with nearly a 33% requiring over one year, according to official data from the end of March this year.

The reporter says being employed illegally in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been extremely simple to accomplish, but he informed us he would never have done that.

However, he explains that those he interviewed employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals spent all of their money to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

Ali acknowledges that these people seemed hopeless.

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