Why Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals consented to work covertly to reveal a operation behind unlawful main street establishments because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurdish people in the UK, they say.

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

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was managing small shops, hair salons and car washes across Britain, and aimed to learn more about how it operated and who was involved.

Equipped with secret recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to be employed, attempting to acquire and run a mini-mart from which to sell contraband tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were able to discover how easy it is for someone in these conditions to establish and manage a business on the commercial area in plain sight. Those involved, we discovered, compensate Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the enterprises in their identities, enabling to fool the officials.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to secretly document one of those at the heart of the operation, who claimed that he could erase government penalties of up to £60k imposed on those employing illegal workers.

"Personally sought to participate in exposing these illegal operations [...] to declare that they do not represent our community," explains Saman, a ex- asylum seeker personally. Saman entered the country illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that spans the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his well-being was at threat.

The reporters acknowledge that tensions over unauthorized immigration are high in the UK and state they have both been concerned that the inquiry could worsen hostilities.

But Ali says that the illegal labor "damages the entire Kurdish population" and he feels driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, Ali says he was concerned the coverage could be exploited by the radical right.

He states this notably impressed him when he noticed that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity protest was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Signs and banners could be seen at the protest, displaying "we want our country returned".

The reporters have both been observing online response to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin population and report it has sparked significant anger for certain individuals. One Facebook message they spotted read: "In what way can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

One more demanded their relatives in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also read claims that they were informants for the UK government, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of damaging the Kurdish population," one reporter explains. "Our objective is to uncover those who have damaged its image. We are proud of our Kurdish identity and profoundly troubled about the behavior of such persons."

Most of those applying for asylum claim they are escaping politically motivated oppression, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a organization that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He says he had to survive on under £20 a week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now get approximately forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers food, according to Home Office regulations.

"Honestly speaking, this is not enough to support a acceptable life," states Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely prevented from working, he feels a significant number are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are practically "compelled to work in the black economy for as little as £3 per hour".

A representative for the Home Office commented: "We make no apology for not granting refugee applicants the authorization to work - granting this would create an incentive for people to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee applications can take years to be resolved with almost a 33% taking over a year, according to official data from the spring this current year.

Saman states being employed illegally in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite straightforward to achieve, but he informed us he would not have participated in that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he met laboring in unauthorized mini-marts during his work seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"They expended all of their funds to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've forfeited all they had."

Ali concurs that these people seemed in dire straits.

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