The Reasons We Chose to Go Covert to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

A pair of Kurdish individuals agreed to operate secretly to expose a network behind illegal commercial enterprises because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurdish people in the UK, they say.

The pair, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish reporters who have both resided lawfully in the UK for years.

The team found that a Kurdish criminal operation was operating convenience stores, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and sought to discover more about how it operated and who was involved.

Prepared with secret cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to be employed, attempting to acquire and manage a convenience store from which to trade unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were able to uncover how simple it is for a person in these situations to establish and operate a business on the commercial area in plain sight. Those participating, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to register the enterprises in their identities, helping to mislead the authorities.

Ali and Saman also were able to secretly film one of those at the centre of the network, who claimed that he could erase government fines of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those employing unauthorized laborers.

"I wanted to play a role in revealing these illegal practices [...] to say that they don't represent us," says Saman, a ex- refugee applicant himself. Saman entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having escaped from Kurdistan - a region that spans the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his safety was at threat.

The investigators recognize that disagreements over illegal immigration are elevated in the UK and explain they have both been worried that the probe could worsen hostilities.

But the other reporter says that the illegal employment "harms the entire Kurdish community" and he considers compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, Ali mentions he was anxious the reporting could be seized upon by the radical right.

He says this particularly affected him when he noticed that radical right activist a prominent activist's national unity rally was occurring in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working secretly. Banners and banners could be seen at the protest, reading "we want our nation back".

The reporters have both been tracking online response to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has sparked significant outrage for certain individuals. One social media comment they observed read: "How can we locate and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

A different urged their families in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also seen accusations that they were spies for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not informants, and we have no intention of damaging the Kurdish population," Saman says. "Our objective is to expose those who have compromised its standing. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish identity and profoundly worried about the behavior of such individuals."

Most of those applying for refugee status claim they are escaping political persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he initially came to the UK, experienced challenges for many years. He states he had to survive on under twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was considered.

Refugee applicants now are provided approximately £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which includes food, according to government guidance.

"Honestly saying, this is not sufficient to support a acceptable existence," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prevented from employment, he believes a significant number are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are effectively "obligated to labor in the illegal economy for as low as three pounds per hour".

A official for the government department stated: "The government make no apology for not granting refugee applicants the authorization to work - granting this would create an incentive for individuals to come to the UK illegally."

Refugee applications can take years to be decided with nearly a 33% taking more than 12 months, according to official data from the late March this year.

Saman says working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been very simple to achieve, but he told us he would not have done that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he interviewed employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his work seemed "lost", notably those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals used their entire money to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum refused and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] state you're forbidden to be employed - but also [you]