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

A pair of Kurdish individuals consented to go undercover to reveal a organization behind unlawful commercial establishments because the lawbreakers are causing harm the standing of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.

The two, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish investigators who have both lived legally in the UK for years.

The team found that a Kurdish crime network was managing mini-marts, hair salons and car washes the length of Britain, and wanted to find out more about how it operated and who was participating.

Equipped with hidden cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to work, seeking to buy and operate a small shop from which to distribute unlawful cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how easy it is for someone in these conditions to establish and run a enterprise on the commercial area in plain sight. The individuals participating, we discovered, compensate Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their identities, assisting to mislead the officials.

Ali and Saman also were able to covertly document one of those at the core of the organization, who claimed that he could eliminate official fines of up to £60k faced those employing illegal workers.

"Personally sought to contribute in exposing these illegal practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not characterize Kurdish people," states Saman, a ex- refugee applicant himself. Saman entered the UK without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his life was at risk.

The reporters recognize that conflicts over illegal immigration are elevated in the United Kingdom and say they have both been anxious that the inquiry could intensify hostilities.

But Ali says that the unauthorized working "harms the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he feels driven to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, Ali explains he was worried the publication could be used by the far-right.

He explains this especially affected him when he noticed that radical right activist a prominent activist's national unity march was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was working secretly. Signs and banners could be observed at the rally, showing "we want our nation returned".

The reporters have both been tracking online feedback to the exposé from within the Kurdish community and say it has sparked intense outrage for certain individuals. One social media post they spotted read: "In what way can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

One more called for their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also encountered accusations that they were informants for the British authorities, and traitors to other Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish population," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to uncover those who have compromised its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish heritage and profoundly worried about the actions of such individuals."

Most of those applying for asylum state they are escaping political oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a organization that supports refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the situation for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he initially came to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He explains he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his refugee application was processed.

Refugee applicants now get about forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which offers food, according to government policies.

"Practically stating, this isn't adequate to support a acceptable life," states the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are generally prohibited from working, he believes numerous are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are effectively "compelled to labor in the black market for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the government department stated: "The government make no apology for denying refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - granting this would generate an incentive for people to come to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum applications can take years to be processed with almost a 33% requiring more than a year, according to official data from the late March this year.

Saman explains being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been quite straightforward to do, but he explained to the team he would not have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he explains that those he met employed in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "confused", particularly those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals used all their money to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've forfeited all they had."

Ali concurs that these individuals seemed hopeless.

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