The Reasons Our Team Went Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals consented to operate secretly to uncover a operation behind illegal main street enterprises because the wrongdoers are damaging the standing of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they state.

The pair, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish journalists who have both lived lawfully in the UK for a long time.

Investigators found that a Kurdish-linked crime network was running small shops, hair salons and car washes across the UK, and aimed to find out more about how it functioned and who was taking part.

Armed with secret recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no permission to work, seeking to acquire and manage a convenience store from which to distribute illegal tobacco products and vapes.

They were able to discover how straightforward it is for a person in these situations to set up and run a commercial operation on the main street in full view. The individuals participating, we discovered, compensate Kurds who have British citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their names, helping to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to discreetly document one of those at the centre of the organization, who stated that he could eliminate government sanctions of up to £60k faced those hiring unauthorized workers.

"Personally aimed to contribute in exposing these unlawful activities [...] to declare that they don't represent us," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter entered the country illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a region 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 admit that conflicts over unauthorized migration are elevated in the UK and say they have both been worried that the investigation could intensify hostilities.

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

Additionally, the journalist explains he was concerned the publication could be exploited by the extreme right.

He states this notably impressed him when he discovered that far-right activist a prominent activist's national unity protest was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Placards and flags could be spotted at the rally, reading "we want our nation back".

Saman and Ali have both been observing social media reaction to the investigation from inside the Kurdish community and report it has sparked strong frustration for certain individuals. One social media message they found stated: "How can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

A different urged their families in Kurdistan to be attacked.

They have also seen claims that they were informants for the British authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish community," Saman says. "Our aim is to reveal those who have damaged its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish identity and deeply worried about the activities of such people."

Most of those applying for asylum state they are fleeing politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that supports refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the UK, faced difficulties for years. He states he had to survive on under £20 a week while his asylum claim was processed.

Refugee applicants now receive approximately £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which offers food, according to official policies.

"Practically stating, this is not adequate to sustain a respectable life," explains the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are largely restricted from employment, he believes numerous are open to being manipulated and are practically "forced to labor in the unofficial sector for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the authorities commented: "The government make no apology for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to work - doing so would establish an reason for individuals to travel to the UK without authorization."

Asylum applications can take multiple years to be resolved with almost a one-third taking over one year, according to government figures from the spring this current year.

The reporter says working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been quite simple to achieve, but he told the team he would never have done that.

However, he states that those he met working in illegal convenience stores during his research seemed "confused", particularly those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals used their entire funds to come to the UK, they had their asylum rejected and now they've lost all they had."

The other reporter agrees that these people seemed desperate.

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