The Reasons Our Team Went Undercover to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish-background individuals agreed to go undercover to expose a organization behind illegal main street establishments because the wrongdoers are causing harm the standing of Kurdish people in the UK, they explain.

The pair, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for a long time.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was managing convenience stores, hair salons and car washes the length of the United Kingdom, and sought to discover more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Armed with secret recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to be employed, attempting to acquire and operate a convenience store from which to trade contraband tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were able to uncover how simple it is for a person in these circumstances to start and manage a enterprise on the High Street in public view. The individuals involved, we found, pay Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the enterprises in their names, enabling to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also managed to discreetly record one of those at the heart of the organization, who asserted that he could erase official fines of up to £60,000 encountered those employing unauthorized workers.

"I sought to participate in exposing these illegal operations [...] to declare that they do not characterize Kurdish people," says one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant himself. Saman entered the UK illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a territory that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his safety was at threat.

The reporters acknowledge that conflicts over illegal immigration are elevated in the United Kingdom and say they have both been worried that the probe could worsen conflicts.

But the other reporter states that the unauthorized working "damages the entire Kurdish community" and he feels obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Additionally, the journalist explains he was anxious the reporting could be exploited by the extreme right.

He states this especially affected him when he realized that far-right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was working undercover. Placards and flags could be spotted at the protest, reading "we demand our country returned".

The reporters have both been monitoring online reaction to the investigation from within the Kurdish community and report it has caused strong frustration for some. One social media post they observed read: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

Another called for their relatives 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 informants, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish population," Saman states. "Our goal is to expose those who have damaged its standing. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and extremely worried about the actions of such people."

Most of those applying for asylum say they are fleeing politically motivated oppression, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a charity that helps refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He explains he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now get about forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which offers food, according to government regulations.

"Honestly speaking, this isn't enough to sustain a respectable existence," says the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are generally restricted from working, he thinks a significant number are open to being manipulated and are essentially "forced to labor in the illegal market for as little as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities stated: "We are unapologetic for not granting refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - doing so would generate an reason for individuals to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Asylum applications can require a long time to be processed with nearly a 33% requiring over one year, according to official statistics from the end of March this year.

Saman says working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite easy to achieve, but he explained to the team he would not have engaged in that.

However, he explains that those he encountered employed in illegal mini-marts during his research seemed "lost", especially those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals spent all their funds to come to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've lost everything."

Ali concurs that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"When [they] say you're prohibited to be employed - but additionally [you]