The Reasons Our Team Went Covert to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish men decided to work covertly to reveal a network behind unlawful commercial establishments because the wrongdoers are damaging the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they explain.

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

Investigators found that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was operating mini-marts, barbershops and car washes throughout the UK, and sought to find out more about how it worked and who was participating.

Equipped with hidden recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to work, looking to acquire and manage a mini-mart from which to trade unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how easy it is for someone in these situations to establish and operate a enterprise on the commercial area in public view. The individuals participating, we found, pay Kurds who have UK residency to register the enterprises in their names, enabling to mislead the government agencies.

Ali and Saman also were able to secretly record one of those at the centre of the network, who claimed that he could erase official penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those hiring illegal employees.

"I wanted to contribute in revealing these illegal activities [...] to say that they do not represent us," explains one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant himself. Saman entered the UK without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that covers the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a state - because his safety was at threat.

The journalists recognize that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are significant in the UK and explain they have both been concerned that the probe could inflame hostilities.

But Ali explains that the illegal employment "damages the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he believes compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, Ali explains he was anxious the coverage could be used by the far-right.

He states this especially affected him when he realized that far-right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was occurring in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating undercover. Banners and banners could be spotted at the gathering, reading "we want our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been tracking online feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has generated significant frustration for some. One Facebook comment they found stated: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

One more urged their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also seen claims that they were informants for the UK government, and betrayers to other Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter states. "Our aim is to expose those who have compromised its standing. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and extremely concerned about the activities of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for refugee status state they are escaping political persecution, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that supports asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he first 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 considered.

Asylum seekers now are provided about £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which includes food, according to official policies.

"Honestly speaking, this isn't enough to support a respectable life," states the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are generally prohibited from working, he believes many are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are essentially "compelled to labor in the unofficial market for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the Home Office said: "The government do not apologize for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to be employed - doing so would generate an incentive for individuals to travel to the UK illegally."

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

Saman explains being employed without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been very easy to do, but he explained to us he would not have done that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he encountered laboring in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "lost", particularly those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"They expended all of their savings to come to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've sacrificed everything."

Ali acknowledges that these individuals seemed desperate.

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