The Reasons Our Team Went Undercover to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish Population

A pair of Kurdish-background men agreed to go undercover to expose a organization behind illegal main street establishments because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurdish people in the Britain, they state.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both resided lawfully in the United Kingdom for a long time.

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was operating mini-marts, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of Britain, and aimed to find out more about how it operated and who was participating.

Prepared with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to work, looking to acquire and operate a convenience store from which to distribute unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to reveal how straightforward it is for someone in these circumstances to set up and run a commercial operation on the commercial area in public view. The individuals involved, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the operations in their identities, assisting to deceive the officials.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to secretly film one of those at the heart of the operation, who stated that he could remove official penalties of up to £60k faced those employing illegal workers.

"Personally wanted to play a role in exposing these illegal operations [...] to declare that they don't characterize our community," explains one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker personally. Saman entered the UK without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a country - because his well-being was at threat.

The journalists recognize that conflicts over illegal immigration are elevated in the UK and state they have both been worried that the inquiry could worsen hostilities.

But the other reporter states that the illegal working "harms the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he feels driven to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, the journalist says he was concerned the publication could be exploited by the extreme right.

He states this notably struck him when he noticed that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity march was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Banners and flags could be spotted at the protest, displaying "we demand our country back".

The reporters have both been monitoring online reaction to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin population and say it has generated intense frustration for some. One social media message they observed stated: "In what way can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

Another called for their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also encountered allegations that they were agents for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not informants, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish community," one reporter states. "Our objective is to expose those who have damaged its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply troubled about the actions of such people."

Most of those applying for refugee status claim they are fleeing politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for years. He says he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now are provided approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which includes meals, according to Home Office regulations.

"Realistically stating, this is not adequate to maintain a dignified existence," says the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are generally restricted from employment, he believes many are open to being taken advantage of and are essentially "obligated to labor in the unofficial sector for as low as £3 per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities said: "We make no apology for refusing to grant asylum seekers the authorization to work - doing so would establish an incentive for people to travel to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum cases can require multiple years to be decided with nearly a one-third taking more than a year, according to government statistics from the late March this current year.

Saman states working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely simple to do, but he told the team he would never have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he encountered employed in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals spent all their money to travel to the UK, they had their refugee application refused and now they've lost everything."

Ali concurs that these individuals seemed desperate.

"When [they] state you're prohibited to work - but also [you]