Why Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

A pair of Kurdish-background men decided to work covertly to expose a network behind illegal main street businesses because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both resided legally in the UK for years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was operating mini-marts, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of Britain, and wanted to discover more about how it worked and who was participating.

Equipped with covert cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to work, attempting to purchase and run a small shop from which to trade contraband cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to discover how straightforward it is for someone in these circumstances to establish and run a business on the High Street in full view. The individuals participating, we found, compensate Kurds who have British citizenship to register the operations in their identities, enabling to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also were able to secretly document one of those at the core of the operation, who claimed that he could eliminate official fines of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those hiring illegal laborers.

"I aimed to play a role in revealing these illegal operations [...] to say that they do not speak for us," says one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his safety was at threat.

The reporters acknowledge that conflicts over illegal migration are high in the United Kingdom and state they have both been concerned that the probe could worsen tensions.

But Ali says that the illegal working "damages the whole Kurdish population" and he believes compelled to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, Ali says he was anxious the publication could be seized upon by the radical right.

He says this particularly struck him when he discovered that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity protest was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working secretly. Placards and banners could be observed at the gathering, reading "we want our nation returned".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking online reaction to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin community and report it has caused strong anger for certain individuals. One Facebook post they found said: "How can we locate and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

One more demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also encountered accusations that they were agents for the British government, and betrayers to other Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish community," one reporter says. "Our aim is to expose those who have compromised its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and deeply troubled about the behavior of such persons."

The majority of those applying for refugee status state they are fleeing political persecution, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that assists asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He states he had to live on under twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was considered.

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

"Practically stating, this isn't enough to sustain a acceptable life," states Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely restricted from working, he thinks many are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are essentially "obligated to work in the unofficial economy for as little as three pounds per hour".

A representative for the Home Office said: "We are unapologetic for refusing to grant refugee applicants the permission to be employed - doing so would establish an incentive for people to migrate to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Refugee applications can take multiple years to be processed with nearly a one-third requiring over 12 months, according to government statistics from the late March this current year.

The reporter explains being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been extremely simple to achieve, but he told us he would never have participated in that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he encountered employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his work seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals spent their entire money to come to the UK, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost everything."

Ali concurs that these people seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] declare you're not allowed to work - but also [you]