The Reasons We Chose to Go Covert to Expose Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish-background men consented to operate secretly to expose a network behind illegal main street businesses because the lawbreakers are causing harm the image of Kurds in the UK, they state.

The two, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both lived lawfully in the UK for a long time.

Investigators found that a Kurdish-linked crime network was running small shops, hair salons and car washes across the UK, and aimed to find out more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Armed with secret recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no right to be employed, looking to purchase and manage a mini-mart from which to trade illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to reveal how simple it is for someone in these situations to start and run a commercial operation on the main street in public view. Those involved, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their names, enabling to deceive the government agencies.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to discreetly document one of those at the core of the network, who stated that he could erase government fines of up to £60k encountered those hiring unauthorized employees.

"Personally sought to play a role in uncovering these unlawful practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not represent us," explains one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker himself. Saman came to the UK without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his safety was at threat.

The investigators recognize that tensions over illegal immigration are high in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the inquiry could worsen conflicts.

But the other reporter states that the illegal working "harms the whole Kurdish population" and he believes obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

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

He explains this especially impressed him when he discovered that radical right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity protest was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was working undercover. Placards and banners could be observed at the protest, displaying "we demand our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring social media feedback to the exposé from within the Kurdish population and report it has caused intense frustration for some. One social media comment they spotted read: "In what way can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

Another demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also encountered accusations that they were agents for the British government, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish population," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to reveal those who have harmed its standing. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish identity and extremely concerned about the activities of such persons."

The majority of those applying for asylum say they are escaping political persecution, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert journalist Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for many years. He states he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his refugee application was processed.

Asylum seekers now get approximately forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which includes meals, according to Home Office regulations.

"Honestly stating, this isn't adequate to maintain a respectable lifestyle," says Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are mostly restricted from working, he feels many are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are effectively "compelled to work in the black sector for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the government department stated: "The government are unapologetic for denying refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - granting this would create an incentive for individuals to come to the UK illegally."

Asylum applications can take multiple years to be resolved with almost a 33% taking more than a year, according to government figures from the late March this current year.

Saman says working without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been very straightforward to achieve, but he explained to the team he would not have engaged in that.

However, he says that those he interviewed employed in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals spent their entire money to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've sacrificed all they had."

The other reporter agrees that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"When [they] declare you're not allowed to work - but simultaneously [you]