Why We Chose to Go Covert to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish individuals decided to work covertly to uncover a network behind illegal commercial establishments because the wrongdoers are causing harm the image of Kurds in the UK, they state.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish journalists who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for many years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was managing mini-marts, barbershops and car washes throughout the UK, and wanted to find out more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Armed with secret cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no permission to be employed, attempting to buy and manage a convenience store from which to trade illegal cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were able to reveal how simple it is for a person in these conditions to set up and run a enterprise on the main street in public view. Those participating, we discovered, pay Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the operations in their identities, assisting to fool the authorities.

Ali and Saman also managed to secretly film one of those at the heart of the network, who asserted that he could eliminate government sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those using unauthorized employees.

"I sought to play a role in uncovering these illegal practices [...] to declare that they don't represent Kurdish people," explains one reporter, a former refugee applicant himself. Saman came to the country without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a area that spans the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a country - because his well-being was at danger.

The investigators admit that tensions over illegal migration are significant in the UK and state they have both been concerned that the investigation could intensify tensions.

But Ali explains that the unauthorized employment "negatively affects the whole Kurdish community" and he considers driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, the journalist mentions he was anxious the reporting could be seized upon by the far-right.

He says this notably affected him when he realized that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity rally was occurring in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating covertly. Banners and flags could be spotted at the gathering, showing "we demand our nation back".

The reporters have both been tracking online feedback to the investigation from inside the Kurdish population and say it has generated intense outrage for some. One social media post they observed stated: "In what way can we locate and locate [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

A different demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also read allegations that they were agents for the UK government, and traitors to other Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish population," one reporter states. "Our goal is to reveal those who have damaged its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish identity and extremely concerned about the behavior of such people."

The majority of those applying for asylum claim they are escaping politically motivated persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to live on less than twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which provides meals, according to government regulations.

"Practically saying, this isn't enough to support a respectable existence," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are largely restricted from employment, he believes many are open to being exploited and are practically "obligated to work in the black market for as low as three pounds per hour".

A official for the authorities said: "We are unapologetic for not granting refugee applicants the right to be employed - doing so would establish an motivation for individuals to migrate to the UK illegally."

Refugee applications can require a long time to be decided with nearly a one-third taking over a year, according to government figures from the spring this current year.

Saman says working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely easy to accomplish, but he informed us he would never have participated in that.

However, he says that those he interviewed employed in illegal mini-marts during his work seemed "confused", especially those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"They used all their savings to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've forfeited all they had."

Ali acknowledges that these individuals seemed hopeless.

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