The Reasons We Chose to Go Undercover to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish-background individuals agreed to work covertly to reveal a network behind unlawful commercial enterprises because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the image of Kurdish people in the Britain, they say.

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

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was running small shops, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and aimed to find out more about how it functioned and who was taking part.

Equipped with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no right to be employed, looking to purchase and run a mini-mart from which to sell unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how straightforward it is for an individual in these conditions to establish and run a enterprise on the High Street in full view. The individuals involved, we discovered, compensate Kurds who have UK citizenship to register the businesses in their names, enabling to mislead the authorities.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to covertly film one of those at the core of the operation, who stated that he could remove official sanctions of up to £60k imposed on those using illegal employees.

"I wanted to participate in exposing these illegal operations [...] to declare that they do not characterize Kurdish people," explains Saman, a ex- refugee applicant himself. Saman entered the UK illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his safety was at risk.

The journalists acknowledge that disagreements over illegal migration are elevated in the UK and say they have both been concerned that the investigation could worsen hostilities.

But Ali states that the illegal working "negatively affects the entire Kurdish community" and he considers obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, the journalist mentions he was anxious the publication could be exploited by the extreme right.

He explains this particularly struck him when he noticed that extreme right activist a prominent activist's national unity protest was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Placards and banners could be spotted at the gathering, showing "we want our country back".

Both journalists have both been tracking social media reaction to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish-origin population and report it has caused strong anger for some. One social media post they spotted read: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

A different urged their families in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also seen allegations that they were spies for the British government, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter says. "Our objective is to uncover those who have compromised its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish heritage and extremely concerned about the behavior of such people."

The majority of those seeking refugee status say they are escaping politically motivated discrimination, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the UK, struggled for many years. He states he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was processed.

Refugee applicants now are provided approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which provides food, according to government regulations.

"Realistically speaking, this isn't sufficient to support a dignified existence," states Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prohibited from working, he feels many are vulnerable to being exploited and are essentially "obligated to work in the black economy for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the authorities commented: "The government are unapologetic for not granting refugee applicants the permission to be employed - granting this would create an incentive for people to travel to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Refugee cases can require years to be decided with nearly a third taking more than one year, according to government figures from the late March this year.

The reporter states working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or mini-mart would have been quite simple to accomplish, but he explained to us he would not have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he interviewed working in illegal convenience stores during his research seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended all of their money to come to the UK, they had their refugee application denied and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

Ali acknowledges that these people seemed hopeless.

"If [they] say you're forbidden to work - but also [you]