The Reasons We Went Undercover to Expose Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish men consented to go undercover to expose a operation behind illegal main street businesses because the wrongdoers are damaging the standing of Kurds in the UK, they say.

The pair, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish reporters who have both lived legally in the United Kingdom for a long time.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was operating convenience stores, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of the UK, and sought to find out more about how it worked and who was participating.

Equipped with covert recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to work, attempting to buy and operate a small shop from which to trade illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to discover how simple it is for someone in these circumstances to establish and operate a commercial operation on the main street in full view. Those participating, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the operations in their identities, helping to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also managed to secretly film one of those at the centre of the organization, who asserted that he could remove official penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those employing unauthorized workers.

"I aimed to participate in exposing these illegal operations [...] to declare that they do not represent our community," says Saman, a ex- asylum seeker personally. The reporter came to the UK illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a area that straddles the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his life was at threat.

The journalists recognize that conflicts over illegal immigration are elevated in the United Kingdom and state they have both been concerned that the probe could inflame hostilities.

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

Additionally, the journalist mentions he was anxious the coverage could be used by the extreme right.

He states this particularly impressed him when he discovered that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity protest was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Placards and flags could be seen at the gathering, showing "we want our country returned".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking social media response to the investigation from within the Kurdish community and say it has generated significant frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they spotted stated: "How can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

A different called for their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered allegations that they were spies for the British authorities, and traitors to other Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish-origin population," Saman says. "Our goal is to expose those who have harmed its image. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and profoundly worried about the activities of such people."

The majority of those seeking refugee status claim they are escaping political oppression, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that assists asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, struggled for many years. He says he had to live on under twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Refugee applicants now are provided approximately forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which provides meals, according to government regulations.

"Honestly speaking, this isn't sufficient to support a acceptable existence," states Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prohibited from employment, he thinks many are susceptible to being manipulated and are practically "obligated to work in the unofficial sector for as little as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities said: "We make no apology for denying refugee applicants the right to be employed - granting this would establish an motivation for individuals to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee cases can take years to be decided with almost a 33% taking more than 12 months, according to government statistics from the late March this year.

Saman says being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been extremely simple to achieve, but he told the team he would never have done that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he encountered laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his research seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals spent all their funds to come to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've lost all they had."

The other reporter agrees that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] state you're forbidden to work - but also [you]