Why Our Team Went Covert to Expose Crime in the Kurdish Population

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals consented to work covertly to uncover a network behind illegal main street enterprises because the criminals are negatively affecting the standing of Kurds in the Britain, they state.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was managing convenience stores, hair salons and car washes across the United Kingdom, and aimed to discover more about how it worked and who was involved.

Armed with covert recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no permission to be employed, attempting to purchase and operate a small shop from which to sell unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how easy it is for someone in these situations to start and operate a business on the High Street in public view. The individuals involved, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to register the enterprises in their names, assisting to deceive the government agencies.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to covertly record one of those at the heart of the organization, who stated that he could erase government sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those employing unauthorized laborers.

"I sought to participate in exposing these unlawful operations [...] to declare that they do not characterize Kurdish people," states Saman, a ex- refugee applicant personally. Saman came to the UK without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a area that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his life was at threat.

The investigators acknowledge that tensions over unauthorized migration are elevated in the UK and state they have both been anxious that the probe could inflame tensions.

But Ali states that the illegal labor "damages the entire Kurdish community" and he believes driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Additionally, the journalist says he was concerned the reporting could be seized upon by the radical right.

He says this particularly impressed him when he discovered that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was working secretly. Signs and banners could be spotted at the protest, showing "we demand our nation back".

Both journalists have both been observing online reaction to the investigation from inside the Kurdish population and report it has caused strong outrage for certain individuals. One Facebook message they found read: "How can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

One more urged their relatives in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also seen allegations that they were agents for the British government, and betrayers to other Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish community," one reporter states. "Our goal is to reveal those who have damaged its reputation. We are proud of our Kurdish heritage and deeply troubled about the actions of such individuals."

The majority of those seeking refugee status claim they are fleeing politically motivated oppression, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He states he had to survive on under £20 a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now receive about forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which offers meals, according to government regulations.

"Practically stating, this isn't adequate to support a acceptable lifestyle," states Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are generally restricted from employment, he believes numerous are open to being taken advantage of and are practically "compelled to labor in the unofficial market for as low as three pounds per hour".

A official for the government department commented: "We make no apology for refusing to grant refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - granting this would create an incentive for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Asylum cases can require multiple years to be resolved with approximately a one-third taking over a year, according to official figures from the late March this year.

Saman explains being employed without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been quite simple to do, but he told us he would never have engaged in that.

However, he explains that those he interviewed laboring in unauthorized mini-marts during his work seemed "confused", particularly those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"They spent all of their funds to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum rejected and now they've lost everything."

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

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