The Reasons We Chose to Go Covert to Expose Crime in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish individuals consented to operate secretly to expose a network behind illegal main street establishments because the criminals are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they state.

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

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was managing small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services throughout the United Kingdom, and aimed to discover more about how it operated and who was involved.

Armed with secret cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no authorization to work, seeking to buy and operate a convenience store from which to sell illegal cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how easy it is for an individual in these circumstances to set up and operate a commercial operation on the High Street in plain sight. The individuals participating, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the operations in their names, helping to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also managed to secretly record one of those at the core of the network, who claimed that he could eliminate government penalties of up to £60,000 faced those employing illegal workers.

"Personally wanted to participate in exposing these illegal operations [...] to declare that they don't speak for our community," says one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the UK without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a region that covers the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his life was at risk.

The reporters admit that conflicts over unauthorized migration are elevated in the UK and explain they have both been worried that the probe could inflame conflicts.

But Ali states that the unauthorized labor "damages the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he believes compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, the journalist says he was anxious the publication could be seized upon by the far-right.

He explains this especially struck him when he realized that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Placards and banners could be observed at the protest, displaying "we demand our nation returned".

The reporters have both been tracking social media reaction to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin community and explain it has caused strong frustration for some. One social media comment they observed said: "How can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

Another demanded their relatives in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also read allegations that they were agents for the UK government, and betrayers to other Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish community," Saman says. "Our aim is to expose those who have harmed its standing. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and profoundly worried about the actions of such persons."

Most of those seeking refugee status state they are escaping political oppression, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that assists asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, struggled for many years. He says he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was processed.

Refugee applicants now get about £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which provides meals, according to official regulations.

"Practically saying, this isn't sufficient to sustain a respectable life," explains the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prohibited from working, he believes many are open to being exploited and are effectively "obligated to labor in the unofficial market for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A representative for the Home Office said: "We do not apologize for refusing to grant asylum seekers the permission to be employed - granting this would create an reason for individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum cases can require multiple years to be resolved with approximately a one-third requiring over 12 months, according to official statistics from the late March this year.

The reporter states working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been very simple to accomplish, but he informed the team he would not have participated in that.

However, he says that those he interviewed working in unauthorized mini-marts during his investigation seemed "lost", notably those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

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

Ali acknowledges that these people seemed hopeless.

"When [they] declare you're prohibited to work - but additionally [you]