Why Our Team Went Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish-background men decided to go undercover to uncover a operation behind illegal High Street establishments because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the standing of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish journalists who have both resided legally in the UK for many years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish crime network was managing small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of the United Kingdom, and aimed to find out more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Equipped with secret cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no permission to be employed, looking to purchase and run a convenience store from which to distribute contraband tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were able to uncover how straightforward it is for a person in these situations to set up and run a business on the High Street in public view. The individuals participating, we found, compensate Kurds who have UK citizenship to register the businesses in their identities, assisting to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to discreetly record one of those at the core of the network, who stated that he could erase official sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those employing illegal workers.

"I aimed to play a role in revealing these unlawful practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not characterize Kurdish people," explains Saman, a ex- refugee applicant himself. Saman entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a territory that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his safety was at danger.

The reporters admit that conflicts over illegal migration are elevated in the UK and explain they have both been concerned that the investigation could inflame tensions.

But Ali states that the illegal employment "harms the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he considers obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, the journalist explains he was anxious the publication could be seized upon by the far-right.

He says this particularly impressed him when he realized that far-right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was occurring in London on one of the weekends he was working undercover. Signs and banners could be spotted at the gathering, reading "we want our nation back".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring social media response to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish population and explain it has caused significant anger for certain individuals. One social media post they spotted read: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

A different called for their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also read allegations that they were spies for the UK government, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish population," Saman states. "Our aim is to reveal those who have harmed its standing. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply concerned about the actions of such people."

Most of those applying for refugee status claim they are fleeing politically motivated persecution, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, struggled for many years. He states he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his refugee application was processed.

Refugee applicants now receive approximately £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which includes food, according to official regulations.

"Practically stating, this isn't adequate to support a respectable life," explains Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prohibited from working, he believes many are open to being exploited and are practically "obligated to work in the black sector for as low as £3 per hour".

A official for the authorities commented: "We make no apology for not granting refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - doing so would create an reason for people to travel to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Refugee cases can take multiple years to be processed with nearly a third requiring over 12 months, according to official data from the end of March this current year.

The reporter states being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely simple to do, but he told the team he would never have done that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he encountered working in unauthorized mini-marts during his investigation seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"They used all of their savings to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost everything."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] say you're not allowed to be employed - but additionally [you]