Why Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish-background men decided to work covertly to expose a network behind unlawful High Street enterprises because the lawbreakers are damaging the image of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.

The pair, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish reporters who have both lived legally in the UK for a long time.

The team found that a Kurdish crime network was managing small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services throughout the UK, and wanted to find out more about how it worked and who was involved.

Equipped with secret cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no right to work, attempting to acquire and operate a convenience store from which to sell unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how easy it is for someone in these conditions to establish and run a business on the commercial area in full view. The individuals involved, we found, compensate Kurds who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their names, helping to fool the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly film one of those at the centre of the network, who asserted that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those employing illegal employees.

"Personally aimed to play a role in revealing these illegal operations [...] to declare that they do not speak for our community," states Saman, a ex- refugee applicant personally. Saman entered the UK illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his life was at danger.

The journalists recognize that disagreements over illegal immigration are elevated in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been worried that the inquiry could worsen hostilities.

But the other reporter states that the illegal working "negatively affects the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he considers compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, the journalist explains he was worried the publication could be used by the far-right.

He says this notably struck him when he noticed that far-right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating secretly. Banners and flags could be observed at the rally, showing "we demand our nation back".

Both journalists have both been monitoring social media feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish community and explain it has sparked intense outrage for some. One Facebook message they spotted said: "In what way can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

Another urged their relatives in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also read claims that they were spies for the British authorities, and betrayers to other Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish population," one reporter states. "Our goal is to reveal those who have harmed its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and profoundly worried about the behavior of such people."

The majority of those applying for refugee status state they are escaping political discrimination, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert journalist Saman, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He says he had to live on under £20 a week while his asylum claim was considered.

Refugee applicants now receive about forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which includes food, according to official guidance.

"Practically stating, this is not sufficient to sustain a acceptable existence," explains Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely prohibited from working, he feels many are susceptible to being exploited and are practically "forced to labor in the black market for as low as £3 per hourly rate".

A official for the authorities stated: "The government are unapologetic for not granting refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - granting this would generate an motivation for people to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee cases can take a long time to be decided with approximately a 33% requiring over 12 months, according to government data from the late March this current year.

Saman states working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been very easy to accomplish, but he told the team he would never have done that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he encountered laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his investigation seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals used all of their money to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've sacrificed everything."

Ali acknowledges that these individuals seemed desperate.

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