The Reasons We Went Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish men consented to operate secretly to expose a operation behind illegal commercial enterprises because the lawbreakers are causing harm the image of Kurdish people in the Britain, they say.

The pair, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish journalists who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for many years.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was operating mini-marts, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of Britain, and aimed to learn more about how it worked and who was participating.

Armed with secret cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no right to be employed, attempting to purchase and operate a small shop from which to distribute contraband tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how simple it is for an individual in these conditions to establish and run a business on the main street in full view. Those participating, we learned, compensate Kurds who have UK residency to register the businesses in their names, assisting to mislead the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly film one of those at the core of the operation, who claimed that he could remove government sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those using unauthorized employees.

"I sought to contribute in revealing these illegal operations [...] to say that they don't represent Kurdish people," says one reporter, a former refugee applicant personally. Saman came to the UK illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a area that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his safety was at danger.

The journalists acknowledge that disagreements over illegal migration are significant in the United Kingdom and state they have both been concerned that the inquiry could inflame tensions.

But Ali says that the unauthorized working "damages the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he considers driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, Ali says he was worried the coverage could be seized upon by the extreme right.

He explains this particularly impressed him when he discovered that far-right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity rally was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating undercover. Signs and flags could be observed at the gathering, displaying "we want our nation back".

Both journalists have both been tracking online reaction to the inquiry from within the Kurdish community and explain it has generated intense frustration for certain individuals. One social media post they spotted stated: "How can we locate and track [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

Another urged their relatives in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also encountered claims that they were agents for the UK authorities, and traitors to other Kurdish people. "We are not informants, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish population," Saman says. "Our goal is to uncover those who have compromised its image. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin heritage and profoundly concerned about the activities of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for asylum state they are escaping politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the situation for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, experienced challenges for years. He states he had to live on under £20 a week while his asylum claim was processed.

Refugee applicants now receive about £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which provides food, according to government regulations.

"Practically speaking, this is not adequate to maintain a acceptable existence," says the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly restricted from employment, he thinks many are vulnerable to being exploited and are essentially "obligated to work in the black market for as low as £3 per hourly rate".

A representative for the Home Office stated: "The government do not apologize for not granting refugee applicants the right to be employed - doing so would create an incentive for people to travel to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum applications can take a long time to be processed with nearly a third taking more than one year, according to official data from the end of March this year.

Saman explains being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been quite easy to do, but he told the team he would never have done that.

However, he explains that those he interviewed working in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"They spent all of their savings to come to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've sacrificed all they had."

Ali agrees that these people seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] state you're not allowed to work - but simultaneously [you]