The Reasons We Chose to Go Covert to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

A pair of Kurdish-background men agreed to operate secretly to reveal a operation behind illegal commercial establishments because the criminals are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they explain.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish reporters who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for many years.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was operating mini-marts, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout Britain, and aimed to discover more about how it operated and who was involved.

Armed with covert recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no right to work, attempting to purchase and manage a convenience store from which to distribute contraband cigarettes and vapes.

They were able to reveal how simple it is for an individual in these conditions to set up and operate a business on the commercial area in plain sight. The individuals participating, we discovered, compensate Kurds who have UK citizenship to register the enterprises in their names, assisting to mislead the government agencies.

Ali and Saman also managed to discreetly document one of those at the centre of the operation, who stated that he could erase official fines of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those hiring unauthorized workers.

"Personally wanted to participate in revealing these illegal activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize our community," says Saman, a former refugee applicant personally. Saman came to the UK without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that covers the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his well-being was at threat.

The investigators acknowledge that disagreements over illegal migration are significant in the UK and say they have both been worried that the inquiry could intensify tensions.

But Ali says that the unauthorized employment "harms the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he considers driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, the journalist explains he was worried the publication could be exploited by the far-right.

He explains this especially impressed him when he discovered that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom march was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working undercover. Banners and banners could be seen at the gathering, displaying "we want our nation back".

The reporters have both been monitoring online feedback to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin population and say it has sparked strong anger for some. One Facebook comment they observed stated: "How can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

Another urged their families in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered allegations that they were spies for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not informants, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish community," Saman says. "Our aim is to expose those who have compromised its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish identity and profoundly troubled about the behavior of such people."

The majority of those applying for refugee status claim they are escaping political oppression, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that supports asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, experienced challenges for many years. He says he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Asylum seekers now receive approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which provides food, according to official regulations.

"Practically saying, this is not adequate to maintain a respectable life," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prohibited from employment, he feels many are susceptible to being manipulated and are effectively "compelled to work in the illegal market for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the Home Office commented: "We are unapologetic for denying refugee applicants the right to be employed - doing so would create an incentive for individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum applications can require multiple years to be decided with approximately a one-third requiring more than a year, according to official statistics from the late March this current year.

Saman explains being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been very simple to achieve, but he informed us he would never have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he met employed in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"They used their entire money to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum refused and now they've lost their entire investment."

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

"If [they] declare you're forbidden to be employed - but also [you]