The Reasons We Went Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals consented to go undercover to uncover a operation behind illegal High Street establishments because the criminals are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurds in the UK, they state.

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

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was managing convenience stores, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and sought to discover more about how it worked and who was taking part.

Armed with covert recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no right to be employed, attempting to purchase and manage a mini-mart from which to trade illegal cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to reveal how straightforward it is for someone in these circumstances to start and manage a business on the High Street in plain sight. The individuals involved, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their identities, assisting to fool the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to secretly film one of those at the heart of the organization, who stated that he could remove government sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those employing illegal laborers.

"Personally wanted to participate in revealing these illegal activities [...] to declare that they don't characterize Kurdish people," states Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. Saman entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that covers the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his well-being was at danger.

The journalists recognize that disagreements over unauthorized migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and state they have both been concerned that the inquiry could worsen tensions.

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

Additionally, Ali explains he was concerned the coverage could be exploited by the far-right.

He says this especially affected him when he realized that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was taking place in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working undercover. Placards and flags could be observed at the protest, reading "we demand our nation returned".

The reporters have both been observing social media feedback to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin population and report it has sparked strong anger for certain individuals. One Facebook post they spotted stated: "In what way can we locate and track [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

A different called for their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also encountered accusations that they were spies for the UK government, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter says. "Our aim is to reveal those who have damaged its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and profoundly worried about the behavior of such persons."

The majority of those applying for asylum say they are escaping politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that helps asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert journalist Saman, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He explains he had to live on under £20 a week while his refugee application was reviewed.

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

"Honestly speaking, this isn't enough to support a dignified lifestyle," explains the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are generally prohibited from working, he feels numerous are open to being taken advantage of and are effectively "forced to labor in the illegal sector for as little as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities commented: "We do not apologize for not granting refugee applicants the right to work - doing so would create an incentive for individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum applications can take a long time to be processed with approximately a third requiring over a year, according to official figures from the end of March this year.

Saman says working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely easy to achieve, but he explained to us he would never have participated in that.

However, he explains that those he met laboring in unauthorized mini-marts during his investigation seemed "disoriented", notably those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"They used all their money to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum rejected and now they've sacrificed all they had."

The other reporter agrees that these individuals seemed desperate.

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