The Reasons We Went Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish men decided to go undercover to expose a operation behind illegal main street businesses because the lawbreakers are damaging the reputation of Kurdish people in the UK, they state.

The two, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both resided lawfully in the United Kingdom for a long time.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was running convenience stores, barbershops and car washes the length of Britain, and sought to find out more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Equipped with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to be employed, seeking to purchase and operate a mini-mart from which to sell illegal cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to uncover how simple it is for someone in these conditions to establish and manage a business on the High Street in plain sight. Those participating, we learned, compensate Kurds who have British citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their names, assisting to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also managed to covertly record one of those at the heart of the organization, who stated that he could remove government fines of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those employing illegal workers.

"I wanted to play a role in revealing these illegal practices [...] to declare that they do not characterize us," states Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. Saman entered the UK illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a area that covers the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his well-being was at threat.

The reporters recognize that conflicts over illegal migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the investigation could intensify hostilities.

But the other reporter states that the illegal working "damages the whole Kurdish population" and he believes obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, Ali mentions he was worried the publication could be used by the extreme right.

He says this notably impressed him when he discovered that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march was occurring in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working secretly. Banners and banners could be seen at the protest, displaying "we demand our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been tracking social media feedback to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has sparked significant anger for certain individuals. One Facebook message they spotted stated: "How can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

A different called for their families in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also read accusations that they were informants for the UK authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter explains. "Our objective is to reveal those who have harmed its image. We are proud of our Kurdish heritage and extremely concerned about the actions of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for refugee status claim they are fleeing politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a charity that assists refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the UK, experienced challenges for many years. He says he had to survive on under twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was processed.

Asylum seekers now get approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which offers food, according to Home Office guidance.

"Honestly stating, this is not sufficient to maintain a respectable lifestyle," says the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are largely prohibited from employment, he feels many are open to being manipulated and are practically "forced to labor in the illegal economy for as little as three pounds per hour".

A official for the Home Office commented: "The government do not apologize for denying asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - granting this would create an reason for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Refugee cases can require a long time to be processed with approximately a one-third requiring more than a year, according to government data from the end of March this year.

The reporter explains working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite easy to do, but he told us he would never have participated in that.

However, he says that those he met working in illegal mini-marts during his research seemed "confused", particularly those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"They used their entire savings to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've lost everything."

The other reporter acknowledges that these individuals seemed desperate.

"When [they] say you're forbidden to work - but additionally [you]