Why Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Expose Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

A pair of Kurdish men decided to work covertly to expose a organization behind illegal High Street establishments because the criminals are negatively affecting the standing of Kurdish people in the Britain, they say.

The pair, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish investigators who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for a long time.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish crime network was managing convenience stores, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services across the United Kingdom, and sought to learn more about how it functioned and who was involved.

Equipped with covert recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no right to work, looking to purchase and operate a mini-mart from which to distribute illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how easy it is for someone in these circumstances to establish and run a enterprise on the commercial area in public view. Those involved, we found, compensate Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their names, helping to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly film one of those at the heart of the organization, who asserted that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those hiring illegal laborers.

"I sought to play a role in revealing these illegal practices [...] to say that they do not represent our community," explains Saman, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the UK without authorization, having escaped from Kurdistan - a area that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his well-being was at danger.

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

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized working "negatively affects the whole Kurdish population" and he believes driven to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, Ali says he was anxious the reporting could be exploited by the radical right.

He says this notably affected him when he discovered that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity march was taking place in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating undercover. Signs and banners could be seen at the protest, showing "we demand our country back".

The reporters have both been monitoring online feedback to the inquiry from within the Kurdish population and say it has sparked intense outrage for some. One Facebook comment they found read: "In what way can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

A different called for their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also seen claims that they were spies for the UK government, and betrayers to other Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter says. "Our objective is to expose those who have damaged its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and profoundly worried about the behavior of such persons."

Most of those applying for refugee status say they are fleeing political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that assists refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He says he had to survive on under £20 a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now receive approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which provides meals, according to government guidance.

"Honestly stating, this isn't enough to sustain a acceptable existence," says Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are generally restricted from working, he believes numerous are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are practically "obligated to labor in the illegal market for as low as £3 per hour".

A spokesperson for the Home Office said: "We make no apology for denying asylum seekers the right to work - granting this would create an motivation for people to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Asylum applications can require years to be resolved with almost a 33% requiring more than a year, according to government data from the late March this year.

Saman says being employed without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been very easy to achieve, but he told the team he would not have participated in that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he met employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his work seemed "disoriented", notably those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals spent all of their money to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed desperate.

"When [they] state you're prohibited to be employed - but also [you]