Why We Went Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish-background men decided to go undercover to uncover a operation behind unlawful commercial businesses because the lawbreakers are damaging the standing of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they explain.

The pair, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both resided legally in the UK for years.

Investigators found that a Kurdish crime network was managing mini-marts, barbershops and car washes throughout Britain, and wanted to find out more about how it worked and who was participating.

Armed with covert recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no right to work, attempting to buy and run a small shop from which to trade illegal tobacco products and vapes.

They were successful to uncover how simple it is for a person in these situations to set up and manage a business on the commercial area in plain sight. Those involved, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to legally establish the operations in their names, enabling to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly record one of those at the heart of the organization, who stated that he could remove official fines of up to £60,000 faced those using illegal workers.

"I aimed to contribute in uncovering these illegal activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not characterize our community," says one reporter, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the UK without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a region that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his safety was at risk.

The journalists admit that tensions over illegal migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and state they have both been worried that the investigation could worsen tensions.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized employment "negatively affects the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he considers obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Additionally, Ali says he was concerned the reporting could be used by the extreme right.

He explains this particularly affected him when he realized that extreme right activist a prominent activist's national unity march was occurring in London on one of the weekends he was working undercover. Signs and flags could be spotted at the rally, showing "we demand our country returned".

Saman and Ali have both been observing online reaction to the exposé from within the Kurdish community and say it has sparked intense outrage for certain individuals. One social media message they observed stated: "How can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

Another called for their families in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also seen accusations that they were informants for the British government, and traitors to other Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish population," one reporter states. "Our aim is to uncover those who have compromised its image. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin heritage and profoundly troubled about the activities of such persons."

The majority of those applying for asylum claim they are escaping political persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a organization that assists refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the situation for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for many years. He states he had to live on less than twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Refugee applicants now receive approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which includes food, according to Home Office policies.

"Realistically speaking, this isn't sufficient to maintain a respectable lifestyle," explains the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are largely prohibited from employment, he feels a significant number are susceptible to being manipulated and are practically "compelled to work in the illegal market for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the government department commented: "We do not apologize for denying refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - doing so would create an reason for people to migrate to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Refugee cases can require a long time to be decided with almost a one-third taking more than a year, according to government statistics from the late March this current year.

The reporter says being employed without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely straightforward to achieve, but he explained to the team he would never have participated in that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he met employed in illegal mini-marts during his work seemed "disoriented", notably those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals expended their entire funds to travel to the UK, they had their asylum rejected and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

The other reporter agrees that these people seemed hopeless.

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