The Reasons We Chose to Go Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals consented to operate secretly to reveal a operation behind unlawful High Street businesses because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurdish people in the UK, they explain.

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

The team found that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was operating small shops, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services the length of the United Kingdom, and aimed to discover more about how it worked and who was participating.

Armed with secret recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to work, looking to purchase and operate a small shop from which to sell contraband tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to uncover how easy it is for a person in these situations to set up and run a enterprise on the High Street in full view. The individuals participating, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the operations in their identities, helping to fool the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to secretly film one of those at the heart of the network, who asserted that he could erase official penalties of up to £60,000 encountered those using unauthorized laborers.

"I aimed to participate in revealing these illegal operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not represent us," states Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. Saman came to the country illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that covers the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a nation - because his well-being was at danger.

The reporters acknowledge that tensions over unauthorized migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and state they have both been worried that the probe could intensify hostilities.

But the other reporter explains that the illegal employment "damages the entire Kurdish population" and he considers obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, Ali says he was anxious the coverage could be used by the extreme right.

He states this notably impressed him when he realized that far-right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was occurring in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating covertly. Signs and banners could be observed at the rally, showing "we want our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring online feedback to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish-origin community and explain it has sparked intense frustration for some. One social media comment they spotted stated: "In what way can we identify and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

A different urged their relatives in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also read allegations that they were agents for the British government, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish population," Saman states. "Our objective is to reveal those who have compromised its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish heritage and deeply worried about the actions of such people."

Most of those seeking refugee status state they are escaping politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a charity that assists asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the situation for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, experienced challenges for years. He states he had to survive on under twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was considered.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which provides food, according to official regulations.

"Practically speaking, this isn't adequate to support a dignified existence," says the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are generally prohibited from employment, he believes a significant number are open to being exploited and are essentially "forced to work in the illegal economy for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the Home Office said: "The government are unapologetic for denying refugee applicants the right to be employed - doing so would establish an reason for people to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum cases can require years to be processed with nearly a third taking more than 12 months, according to government statistics from the end of March this current year.

Saman says working without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been very straightforward to accomplish, but he informed us he would not have participated in that.

However, he explains that those he met working in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"They used all their money to migrate to the UK, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost everything."

Ali agrees that these people seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] say you're not allowed to work - but additionally [you]