The Reasons We Went Undercover to Expose Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish men consented to go undercover to reveal a operation behind unlawful main street enterprises because the wrongdoers are damaging the reputation of Kurdish people in the Britain, they explain.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish investigators who have both lived lawfully in the UK for many years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish crime network was operating mini-marts, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and sought to find out more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Armed with covert recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to work, looking to purchase and manage a convenience store from which to sell contraband cigarettes and vapes.

They were successful to discover how straightforward it is for a person in these situations to set up and run a enterprise on the High Street in full view. The individuals participating, we learned, compensate Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the operations in their identities, assisting to deceive the officials.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly record one of those at the centre of the operation, who stated that he could remove government penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those using unauthorized laborers.

"I sought to play a role in exposing these illegal operations [...] to declare that they don't characterize Kurdish people," explains one reporter, a former refugee applicant personally. Saman came to the country illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a territory that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his life was at threat.

The investigators recognize that disagreements over unauthorized immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and state they have both been anxious that the probe could inflame tensions.

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

Furthermore, the journalist mentions he was concerned the publication could be used by the extreme right.

He explains this especially impressed him when he discovered that radical right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was working undercover. Placards and banners could be spotted at the gathering, reading "we want our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring online reaction to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has caused significant outrage for some. One Facebook comment they found read: "In what way can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

A different 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. "We are not informants, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to reveal those who have harmed its standing. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish identity and profoundly worried about the behavior of such individuals."

Most of those applying for refugee status claim they are fleeing political persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that assists refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, 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 receive about forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which provides food, according to government regulations.

"Realistically saying, this isn't sufficient to sustain a acceptable life," says Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prevented from employment, he thinks numerous are vulnerable to being manipulated and are effectively "obligated to work in the black sector for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the government department said: "The government are unapologetic for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to be employed - granting this would generate an motivation for people to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Refugee cases can require a long time to be processed with nearly a 33% requiring more than one year, according to government data from the spring this current year.

The reporter says working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been very simple to do, but he explained to us he would never have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he met working in illegal mini-marts during his work seemed "confused", particularly those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"They expended their entire funds to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost their entire investment."

The other reporter agrees that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] state you're prohibited to be employed - but simultaneously [you]