The Reasons Our Team Went Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Population

Two Kurdish men agreed to work covertly to reveal a operation behind illegal High Street establishments because the lawbreakers are causing harm the image of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.

The two, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish investigators who have both resided lawfully in the UK for a long time.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was operating mini-marts, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services throughout the United Kingdom, and wanted to find out more about how it functioned and who was involved.

Equipped with secret recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to be employed, attempting to acquire and operate a mini-mart from which to distribute illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how straightforward it is for a person in these situations to establish and manage a commercial operation on the commercial area in full view. Those participating, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the operations in their names, helping to mislead the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also managed to discreetly film one of those at the centre of the operation, who claimed that he could erase government fines of up to £60,000 faced those using illegal employees.

"Personally wanted to participate in revealing these unlawful operations [...] to say that they don't speak for our community," states one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant personally. The reporter entered the UK illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a territory that covers the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his well-being was at risk.

The investigators recognize that tensions over illegal migration are significant in the UK and explain they have both been anxious that the probe could inflame tensions.

But Ali says that the unauthorized labor "damages the whole Kurdish community" and he considers obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

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

He states this particularly impressed him when he noticed that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating secretly. Banners and banners could be seen at the protest, reading "we want our country returned".

Saman and Ali have both been observing social media response to the exposé from inside the Kurdish population and explain it has generated significant anger for certain individuals. One Facebook post they spotted said: "How can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

One more called for their relatives in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered accusations that they were spies for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to expose those who have harmed its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and extremely worried about the behavior of such individuals."

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

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He states he had to survive on under £20 a per week while his refugee application was processed.

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

"Practically speaking, this isn't sufficient to maintain a acceptable existence," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are largely prevented from working, he feels a significant number are open to being exploited and are practically "compelled to work in the unofficial economy for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the government department commented: "We do not apologize for denying asylum seekers the right to be employed - doing so would establish an reason for individuals to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee applications can require years to be decided with nearly a 33% requiring over one year, according to official data from the spring this year.

The reporter states working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely easy to do, but he informed us he would never have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he interviewed employed in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "confused", notably those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended their entire savings to travel to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've lost all they had."

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

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