The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals agreed to work covertly to uncover a organization behind unlawful commercial enterprises because the lawbreakers are causing harm the reputation of Kurds in the Britain, they say.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both resided lawfully in the United Kingdom for many years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was managing mini-marts, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and wanted to learn more about how it operated and who was participating.

Prepared with covert recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no permission to work, attempting to acquire and run a mini-mart from which to sell illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to discover how easy it is for someone in these situations to establish and run a enterprise on the commercial area in plain sight. Those involved, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the operations in their identities, enabling to deceive the authorities.

Saman and Ali also were able to secretly film one of those at the centre of the operation, who claimed that he could eliminate government sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those employing illegal laborers.

"I wanted to participate in exposing these unlawful practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not speak for us," states Saman, a former refugee applicant himself. Saman entered the UK illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that covers the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his life was at threat.

The journalists recognize that tensions over illegal migration are high in the United Kingdom and say they have both been concerned that the probe could inflame tensions.

But Ali explains that the unauthorized labor "harms the entire Kurdish community" and he believes obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, the journalist explains he was anxious the coverage could be seized upon by the far-right.

He explains this notably impressed him when he realized that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity protest was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working undercover. Banners and flags could be observed at the rally, displaying "we demand our country back".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring online reaction to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin community and explain it has sparked significant frustration for some. One Facebook message they observed said: "In what way can we locate and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

One more urged their families in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also seen accusations that they were spies for the UK authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of damaging the Kurdish-origin community," Saman explains. "Our aim is to uncover those who have damaged its image. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and extremely concerned about the actions of such individuals."

Most of those seeking refugee status state they are escaping political oppression, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a organization that assists asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our covert journalist Saman, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He states he had to live on less than twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Asylum seekers now receive approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which offers food, according to Home Office guidance.

"Honestly stating, this isn't sufficient to support a respectable existence," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prohibited from employment, he thinks many are susceptible to being exploited and are effectively "forced to labor in the black market for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the authorities commented: "The government make no apology for not granting refugee applicants the right to be employed - doing so would generate an motivation for individuals to travel to the UK without authorization."

Refugee applications can require years to be decided with almost a one-third taking more than one year, according to official data from the end of March this current year.

Saman says working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite easy to achieve, but he explained to the team he would never have done that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he encountered laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his investigation seemed "confused", especially those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"They spent all their funds to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum refused and now they've forfeited all they had."

Ali concurs that these people seemed in dire straits.

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