The Reasons We Went Covert to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish individuals agreed to go undercover to uncover a network behind illegal main street enterprises because the lawbreakers are causing harm the image of Kurds in the UK, they state.

The pair, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish investigators who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for a long time.

The team discovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was operating convenience stores, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout the United Kingdom, and aimed to discover more about how it worked and who was participating.

Prepared with hidden recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no authorization to be employed, seeking to buy and operate a small shop from which to distribute contraband cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to uncover how straightforward it is for a person in these circumstances to set up and manage a enterprise on the commercial area in full view. The individuals participating, we learned, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their names, helping to deceive the officials.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to covertly document one of those at the centre of the operation, who stated that he could eliminate official penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those using unauthorized workers.

"Personally wanted to contribute in revealing these unlawful activities [...] to declare that they don't speak for us," states Saman, a former refugee applicant personally. Saman came to the country without authorization, having escaped from Kurdistan - a area that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his life was at danger.

The reporters acknowledge that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are significant in the UK and say they have both been concerned that the probe could inflame conflicts.

But the other reporter explains that the illegal working "harms the whole Kurdish population" and he believes compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, Ali explains he was worried the reporting could be used by the extreme right.

He says this notably affected him when he realized that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was working undercover. Signs and banners could be observed at the rally, showing "we want our country returned".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking social media reaction to the investigation from inside the Kurdish population and explain it has caused significant frustration for some. One social media post they observed stated: "How can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

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

They have also encountered allegations that they were informants for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not informants, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish-origin population," Saman states. "Our objective is to expose those who have damaged its standing. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish identity and extremely troubled about the activities of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for refugee status claim they are escaping politically motivated discrimination, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a charity that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, experienced challenges for years. He says he had to live on under £20 a per week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which provides meals, according to official regulations.

"Practically saying, this is not enough to support a acceptable lifestyle," states Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely restricted from working, he believes numerous are vulnerable to being exploited and are essentially "forced to work in the black economy for as low as £3 per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the government department commented: "The government do not apologize for not granting asylum seekers the permission to work - doing so would establish an incentive for individuals to come to the UK without authorization."

Refugee applications can require a long time to be processed with almost a one-third taking over a year, according to official figures from the end of March this year.

Saman says working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been very simple to achieve, but he explained to us he would not have done that.

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

"They spent all of their funds to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've lost all they had."

Ali concurs that these people seemed hopeless.

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