Why Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish-background men consented to work covertly to uncover a organization behind unlawful commercial businesses because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the image of Kurds in the Britain, they say.

The two, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both resided lawfully in the UK for years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was running small shops, hair salons and car washes across the UK, and aimed to find out more about how it worked and who was involved.

Prepared with secret recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to be employed, attempting to buy and manage a small shop from which to trade illegal tobacco products and vapes.

They were successful to uncover how easy it is for an individual in these conditions to set up and manage a enterprise on the High Street in plain sight. Those involved, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their identities, enabling to deceive the government agencies.

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

"I wanted to participate in revealing these unlawful operations [...] to say that they don't characterize our community," says Saman, a ex- asylum seeker himself. Saman came to the country without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that straddles 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 unauthorized migration are significant in the United Kingdom and state they have both been anxious that the investigation could worsen hostilities.

But Ali states that the illegal employment "harms the whole Kurdish community" and he believes driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, Ali explains he was anxious the coverage could be used by the extreme right.

He explains this particularly affected him when he discovered that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity protest was occurring in London on one of the weekends he was operating secretly. Banners and banners could be observed at the protest, reading "we want our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been observing online reaction to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin community and say it has caused intense outrage for some. One Facebook comment they found stated: "How can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

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

They have also read allegations that they were informants for the British government, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish-origin population," Saman explains. "Our objective is to reveal those who have harmed its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and profoundly troubled about the actions of such individuals."

Most of those applying for refugee status state they are fleeing politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a organization that assists asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he first arrived to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to survive on under £20 a per week while his asylum claim was considered.

Refugee applicants now get approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which provides food, according to Home Office regulations.

"Practically speaking, this is not sufficient to sustain a dignified existence," explains the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prohibited from employment, he thinks many are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are practically "forced to work in the illegal sector for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the Home Office said: "The government do not apologize for refusing to grant asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - granting this would create an motivation for individuals to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Asylum cases can take years to be decided with almost a third requiring more than a year, according to government figures from the spring this current year.

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

However, he explains that those he encountered employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his work seemed "lost", especially those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals used all of their funds to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've forfeited all they had."

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

"If [they] say you're forbidden to be employed - but simultaneously [you]