The Reasons We Chose to Go Covert to Expose Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish individuals agreed to operate secretly to reveal a network behind unlawful commercial businesses because the wrongdoers are causing harm the reputation of Kurdish people in the UK, they state.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish reporters who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for many years.

The team found that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was operating small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and wanted to find out more about how it worked and who was participating.

Prepared with covert recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no right to work, attempting to buy and run a convenience store from which to distribute contraband cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how simple it is for an individual in these conditions to establish and operate a business on the commercial area in public view. Those involved, we found, compensate Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the operations in their identities, assisting to deceive the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to secretly document one of those at the centre of the organization, who claimed that he could erase government sanctions of up to £60,000 encountered those hiring unauthorized employees.

"Personally sought to participate in revealing these unlawful operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize Kurdish people," says Saman, a ex- refugee applicant personally. The reporter came to the country illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a region that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his well-being was at risk.

The investigators admit that tensions over illegal immigration are high in the UK and state they have both been concerned that the inquiry could worsen hostilities.

But Ali says that the illegal employment "negatively affects the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he believes obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, Ali says he was concerned the reporting could be exploited by the radical right.

He says this particularly affected him when he discovered that far-right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating undercover. Signs and flags could be seen at the gathering, reading "we want our country back".

Both journalists have both been tracking social media feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish population and explain it has caused intense anger for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they spotted said: "How can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

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

They have also seen allegations that they were agents for the British authorities, and traitors to other Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter states. "Our aim is to expose those who have compromised its image. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply troubled about the activities of such persons."

Most of those applying for refugee status say they are fleeing politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a organization that helps asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he first arrived to the UK, struggled for many years. He says he had to live on less than twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which includes meals, according to government regulations.

"Practically stating, this isn't adequate to sustain a dignified existence," says Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are largely prevented from working, he believes a significant number are susceptible to being exploited and are effectively "compelled to work in the black market for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the Home Office stated: "The government are unapologetic for denying refugee applicants the right to work - doing so would establish an motivation for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Asylum cases can require multiple years to be processed with nearly a third taking more than a year, according to official figures from the spring this current year.

The reporter states working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite straightforward to achieve, but he explained to us he would never have participated in that.

However, he says that those he met employed in unauthorized convenience stores during his research seemed "disoriented", especially those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals spent all their funds to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum rejected and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

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

"When [they] say you're not allowed to work - but additionally [you]