The Reasons We Went Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish-background men agreed to work covertly to reveal a operation behind illegal High Street enterprises because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the standing of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they say.

The pair, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish reporters who have both resided lawfully in the UK for a long time.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was running mini-marts, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services across Britain, and aimed to learn more about how it functioned and who was taking part.

Prepared with secret recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to be employed, attempting to purchase and manage a convenience store from which to trade unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were able to reveal how straightforward it is for an individual in these conditions to establish and run a business on the High Street in plain sight. Those involved, we learned, compensate Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the enterprises in their identities, helping to mislead the authorities.

Ali and Saman also managed to covertly record one of those at the heart of the network, who stated that he could remove government penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those using illegal laborers.

"Personally aimed to play a role in uncovering these illegal practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize Kurdish people," states one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the United Kingdom illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a territory that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his safety was at threat.

The reporters admit that tensions over illegal immigration are significant in the UK and say they have both been concerned that the inquiry could inflame hostilities.

But Ali says that the illegal labor "harms the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he feels driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, the journalist says he was concerned the coverage could be used by the extreme right.

He states this particularly struck him when he discovered that far-right activist a prominent activist's national unity protest was happening in London on one of the weekends he was working undercover. Signs and banners could be spotted at the gathering, showing "we want our country returned".

The reporters have both been observing social media feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish community and report it has generated intense anger for certain individuals. One social media message they spotted stated: "In what way can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

A different called for their families in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also seen accusations that they were spies for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to expose those who have harmed its standing. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and profoundly worried about the activities of such individuals."

Most of those seeking asylum state they are escaping politically motivated persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a charity that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for years. He says he had to live on under £20 a per week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers meals, according to official guidance.

"Practically saying, this isn't enough to support a acceptable lifestyle," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are generally prohibited from working, he believes many are vulnerable to being exploited and are practically "obligated to work in the illegal sector for as low as £3 per hourly rate".

A representative for the government department commented: "The government do not apologize for refusing to grant refugee applicants the permission to work - doing so would create an motivation for people to migrate to the UK illegally."

Asylum applications can take multiple years to be resolved with almost a third requiring more than 12 months, according to government statistics from the spring this year.

Saman explains being employed 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 done that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he met working in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "disoriented", notably those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"They spent all of their money to come to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum rejected and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

The other reporter acknowledges that these individuals seemed desperate.

"When [they] state you're forbidden to be employed - but also [you]