The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Expose Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish men agreed to work covertly to uncover a operation behind illegal main street establishments because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they explain.

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

Investigators found that a Kurdish-linked crime network was managing small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and aimed to discover more about how it functioned and who was involved.

Armed with secret cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no permission to be employed, seeking to purchase and manage a small shop from which to distribute illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to uncover how easy it is for an individual in these circumstances to establish and run a commercial operation on the High Street in public view. The individuals involved, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their identities, helping to fool the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also were able to secretly document one of those at the centre of the operation, who claimed that he could erase government penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those employing unauthorized workers.

"Personally wanted to contribute in revealing these illegal practices [...] to declare that they don't represent Kurdish people," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the country illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a territory that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his safety was at threat.

The journalists acknowledge that tensions over unauthorized immigration are high in the UK and explain they have both been anxious that the probe could inflame conflicts.

But Ali says that the illegal working "damages the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he feels compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, the journalist mentions he was worried the coverage could be used by the far-right.

He states this especially affected him when he realized that far-right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was occurring in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating covertly. Banners and flags could be observed at the protest, displaying "we want our country back".

Both journalists have both been observing social media reaction to the inquiry from within the Kurdish-origin population and say it has sparked significant frustration for some. One social media post they found stated: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

Another called for their families in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered allegations that they were informants for the UK government, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter says. "Our aim is to uncover those who have harmed its standing. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish heritage and profoundly worried about the behavior of such individuals."

Most of those applying for asylum state they are escaping politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a organization that helps asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He says he had to live on less than £20 a week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now get about forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers food, according to Home Office policies.

"Realistically speaking, this is not sufficient to sustain a respectable life," states the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are largely restricted from working, he feels many are open to being taken advantage of and are practically "compelled to labor in the black market for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the authorities said: "The government do not apologize for refusing to grant refugee applicants the permission to be employed - doing so would generate an incentive for people to travel to the UK without authorization."

Asylum cases can take a long time to be decided with almost a 33% taking more than 12 months, according to government data from the late March this year.

Saman says working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been very easy to achieve, but he explained to the team he would not have participated in that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he met employed in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "lost", particularly those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the legal challenge.

"They spent their entire funds to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

The other reporter acknowledges that these people seemed in dire straits.

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