The Reasons We Went Covert to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish-background individuals agreed to work covertly to uncover a network behind illegal commercial enterprises because the lawbreakers are damaging the standing of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they explain.

The pair, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish reporters who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for many years.

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish crime network was running mini-marts, barbershops and car washes the length of the UK, and wanted to discover more about how it worked and who was involved.

Armed with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no right to be employed, seeking to buy and operate a small shop from which to trade contraband tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to reveal how straightforward it is for someone in these situations to start and manage a commercial operation on the High Street in public view. The individuals involved, we learned, pay Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their names, enabling to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to discreetly record one of those at the heart of the operation, who stated that he could erase government penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those using illegal workers.

"Personally sought to play a role in revealing these unlawful operations [...] to say that they don't speak for Kurdish people," says one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker himself. Saman came to the UK illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his safety was at risk.

The reporters recognize that conflicts over illegal immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and say they have both been worried that the probe could intensify tensions.

But Ali says that the illegal working "negatively affects the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he considers driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, Ali mentions he was concerned the publication could be exploited by the extreme right.

He explains this especially impressed him when he noticed that far-right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity rally was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was working undercover. Signs and banners could be observed at the protest, displaying "we want our nation back".

The reporters have both been observing social media feedback to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin community and say it has generated intense outrage for certain individuals. One social media post they observed read: "In what way can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

One more called for their relatives in Kurdistan to be attacked.

They have also seen accusations that they were agents for the British government, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish population," one reporter explains. "Our aim is to expose those who have damaged its standing. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish identity and deeply concerned about the activities of such individuals."

Most of those applying for asylum say they are escaping politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that helps asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he first came to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He explains he had to survive on under twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was considered.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which provides food, according to official regulations.

"Honestly speaking, this isn't sufficient to sustain a dignified life," states the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prevented from working, he believes a significant number are vulnerable to being manipulated and are essentially "compelled to work in the illegal sector for as little as three pounds per hour".

A official for the government department stated: "The government are unapologetic for not granting refugee applicants the permission to work - granting this would establish an incentive for individuals to come to the UK without authorization."

Refugee cases can require multiple years to be processed with nearly a 33% requiring over one year, according to government statistics from the spring this current year.

The reporter states working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been very easy to do, but he informed us he would not have participated in that.

However, he explains that those he met laboring in illegal mini-marts during his research seemed "confused", especially those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals spent all their funds to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've lost everything."

Ali agrees that these people seemed desperate.

"If [they] say you're prohibited to be employed - but simultaneously [you]