The Reasons We Went Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Population

Two Kurdish-background men agreed to operate secretly to uncover a network behind unlawful main street enterprises because the lawbreakers are causing harm the standing of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they explain.

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

The team found that a Kurdish crime network was managing convenience stores, barbershops and car washes across the United Kingdom, and aimed to discover more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Armed with hidden cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no permission to work, looking to purchase and operate a convenience store from which to trade contraband tobacco products and vapes.

They were able to uncover how simple it is for a person in these conditions to establish and run a enterprise on the commercial area in public view. Those participating, we learned, compensate Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the operations in their names, enabling to fool the officials.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to secretly film one of those at the core of the network, who stated that he could remove official fines of up to £60k faced those employing unauthorized employees.

"I wanted to participate in revealing these unlawful practices [...] to declare that they do not represent Kurdish people," explains one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker personally. The reporter entered the country without authorization, having escaped from Kurdistan - a region that covers the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his safety was at danger.

The reporters acknowledge that disagreements over illegal migration are significant in the United Kingdom and say they have both been worried that the probe could intensify hostilities.

But Ali says that the illegal labor "damages the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he believes obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, Ali mentions he was concerned the publication could be exploited by the extreme right.

He says this particularly struck him when he realized that radical right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity protest was occurring in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working covertly. Placards and flags could be seen at the protest, showing "we want our country back".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring social media response to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish-origin population and say it has sparked intense anger for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they spotted said: "In what way can we identify and locate [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

One more demanded their relatives in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also seen claims that they were agents for the UK authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish community," Saman says. "Our objective is to expose those who have damaged its image. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and deeply troubled about the activities of such persons."

The majority of those seeking asylum claim they are escaping politically motivated discrimination, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that supports asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He says he had to live on under twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was considered.

Asylum seekers now receive approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which offers food, according to government guidance.

"Honestly saying, this isn't sufficient to sustain a dignified existence," states Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly restricted from working, he feels many are vulnerable to being exploited and are essentially "compelled to labor in the illegal economy for as low as three pounds per hour".

A official for the Home Office said: "The government do not apologize for denying refugee applicants the permission to be employed - granting this would create an incentive for individuals to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum applications can take a long time to be processed with approximately a 33% taking more than a year, according to government figures from the end of March this current year.

Saman explains working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been quite simple to do, but he informed the team he would never have done that.

Nonetheless, he explains that those he interviewed laboring in illegal mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They spent all their savings to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've sacrificed everything."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed hopeless.

"If [they] declare you're prohibited to be employed - but simultaneously [you]