The Reasons We Chose to Go Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish-background men decided to go undercover to reveal a operation behind illegal main street enterprises because the lawbreakers are damaging the reputation of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they say.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for years.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was managing mini-marts, hair salons and car washes the length of the UK, and aimed to learn more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Equipped with hidden recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to be employed, seeking to buy and manage a mini-mart from which to sell unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how easy it is for someone in these circumstances to set up and manage a commercial operation on the main street in full view. The individuals participating, we learned, compensate Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to register the operations in their identities, enabling to fool the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to secretly film one of those at the core of the organization, who claimed that he could remove government sanctions of up to £60,000 imposed on those hiring illegal employees.

"Personally aimed to participate in uncovering these illegal practices [...] to say that they don't speak for us," says Saman, a ex- refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having escaped from Kurdistan - a region that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his life was at threat.

The journalists acknowledge that disagreements over illegal immigration are high in the UK and say they have both been anxious that the investigation could intensify conflicts.

But the other reporter explains that the illegal labor "harms the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he feels compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Additionally, Ali says he was concerned the publication could be seized upon by the radical right.

He explains this particularly struck him when he noticed that far-right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity march was happening in London on one of the weekends he was operating secretly. Banners and banners could be observed at the protest, reading "we want our country returned".

Both journalists have both been observing social media response to the investigation from within the Kurdish community and explain it has caused strong frustration for some. One Facebook message they observed stated: "How can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

Another called for their relatives in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also seen allegations that they were agents for the UK government, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to reveal those who have damaged its image. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and profoundly troubled about the activities of such people."

Most of those seeking asylum claim they are escaping political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that helps asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he initially came to the UK, struggled for years. He states he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now receive approximately £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which includes food, according to government policies.

"Honestly stating, this is not sufficient to support a dignified existence," explains Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly restricted from employment, he feels a significant number are susceptible to being exploited and are essentially "forced to work in the unofficial economy for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the government department said: "We are unapologetic for denying refugee applicants the right to work - doing so would create an motivation for people to migrate to the UK illegally."

Asylum cases can take a long time to be resolved with approximately a one-third requiring over one year, according to official data from the spring this current year.

The reporter says working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or mini-mart would have been extremely easy to accomplish, but he told us he would not have engaged in that.

However, he states that those he met laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "confused", especially those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"They used all their savings to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've sacrificed everything."

The other reporter acknowledges that these people seemed hopeless.

"When [they] state you're not allowed to work - but simultaneously [you]