Why We Went Covert to Expose Crime in the Kurdish Population

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals decided to go undercover to reveal a network behind illegal commercial establishments because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the standing of Kurdish people in the Britain, they state.

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

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was operating convenience stores, hair salons and car washes the length of the United Kingdom, and sought to find out more about how it operated and who was participating.

Equipped with covert cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no right to be employed, attempting to acquire and operate a convenience store from which to trade contraband tobacco products and vapes.

They were successful to reveal how easy it is for a person in these situations to establish and manage a enterprise on the main street in plain sight. Those participating, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the operations in their names, assisting to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to covertly record one of those at the core of the network, who asserted that he could eliminate government sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those employing illegal laborers.

"Personally sought to participate in revealing these unlawful activities [...] to say that they don't speak for our community," says Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. Saman came to the United Kingdom without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his life was at risk.

The journalists recognize that disagreements over unauthorized migration are high in the United Kingdom and state they have both been concerned that the inquiry could intensify tensions.

But Ali says that the illegal working "negatively affects the entire Kurdish population" and he believes driven to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

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

He explains this particularly affected him when he noticed that radical right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was taking place in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Signs and flags could be observed at the gathering, reading "we demand our nation back".

Both journalists have both been observing social media response to the inquiry from within the Kurdish-origin population and report it has caused significant frustration for some. One Facebook message they spotted said: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

A different urged their relatives in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also seen allegations that they were agents for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of damaging the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter states. "Our aim is to uncover those who have harmed its image. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and deeply worried about the actions of such individuals."

The majority of those seeking refugee status claim they are escaping political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a organization that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the UK, struggled for many years. He explains he had to live on less than twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

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

"Practically saying, this isn't sufficient to support a acceptable life," states Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are largely prevented from employment, he thinks numerous are vulnerable to being manipulated and are essentially "compelled to work in the unofficial economy for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the Home Office said: "The government are unapologetic for refusing to grant asylum seekers the permission to be employed - granting this would establish an motivation for individuals to travel to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum applications can require multiple years to be decided with almost a third taking over one year, according to government statistics from the late March this year.

Saman states being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or mini-mart would have been very simple to achieve, but he told the team he would not have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he interviewed employed in unauthorized convenience stores during his research seemed "confused", especially those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals used all their funds to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've lost everything."

The other reporter acknowledges that these people seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] declare you're not allowed to work - but also [you]