The Reasons We Chose to Go Undercover to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish individuals consented to work covertly to reveal a network behind unlawful commercial enterprises because the criminals are damaging the reputation of Kurds in the UK, they explain.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both lived legally in the UK for years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was managing mini-marts, barbershops and car washes the length of the UK, and sought to learn more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Equipped with covert recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to work, seeking to purchase and manage a convenience store from which to trade illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to reveal how easy it is for an individual in these conditions to establish and operate a enterprise on the main street in full view. Those involved, we found, compensate Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to register the enterprises in their identities, assisting to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to secretly film one of those at the heart of the operation, who claimed that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those hiring illegal workers.

"Personally sought to contribute in uncovering these illegal practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not represent us," says Saman, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter came to the UK illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his life was at danger.

The journalists admit that tensions over unauthorized migration are significant in the United Kingdom and state they have both been anxious that the probe could worsen hostilities.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized employment "damages the whole Kurdish community" and he believes obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, the journalist mentions he was worried the reporting could be exploited by the far-right.

He states this notably struck him when he realized that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was taking place in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working undercover. Banners and banners could be observed at the gathering, reading "we want our country back".

The reporters have both been monitoring social media response to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has generated intense frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they observed stated: "In what way can we locate and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

A different demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also seen claims that they were informants for the British government, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish community," one reporter states. "Our aim is to uncover those who have damaged its image. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and deeply troubled about the behavior of such persons."

The majority of those seeking asylum state they are escaping politically motivated persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that assists asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first came to the UK, struggled for many years. He explains he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was considered.

Asylum seekers now get about £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which provides meals, according to government policies.

"Realistically speaking, this is not sufficient to support a dignified lifestyle," says Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prevented from working, he believes a significant number are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are effectively "obligated to work in the black market for as little as £3 per hour".

A official for the government department commented: "We make no apology for denying asylum seekers the permission to work - doing so would establish an reason for people to come to the UK illegally."

Refugee cases can require years to be decided with almost a one-third requiring more than a year, according to government figures from the spring this year.

Saman states working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely simple to do, but he told the team he would not have done that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he met employed in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "disoriented", especially those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended all of their money to come to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum refused and now they've forfeited everything."

Ali concurs that these people seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] state you're forbidden to work - but additionally [you]