The Reasons We Chose to Go Covert to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish men decided to go undercover to uncover a network behind illegal High Street businesses because the lawbreakers are damaging the standing of Kurdish people in the Britain, they say.

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

The team found that a Kurdish-linked crime network was running small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services throughout Britain, and wanted to discover more about how it worked and who was involved.

Prepared with covert cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to work, looking to buy and manage a small shop from which to sell unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how simple it is for someone in these conditions to establish and manage a business on the main street in public view. The individuals participating, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the operations in their names, assisting to deceive the officials.

Ali and Saman also were able to discreetly film one of those at the centre of the organization, who claimed that he could remove official sanctions of up to £60k encountered those employing illegal workers.

"I wanted to play a role in exposing these unlawful activities [...] to say that they don't represent us," states Saman, a former asylum seeker himself. The reporter came to the UK without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a state - because his safety was at threat.

The reporters acknowledge that tensions over unauthorized migration are high in the UK and state they have both been anxious that the investigation could worsen tensions.

But the other reporter says that the illegal labor "damages the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he believes driven to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, Ali mentions he was anxious the coverage could be used by the radical right.

He says this notably impressed him when he discovered that extreme right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom march was happening in London on one of the weekends he was working undercover. Placards and banners could be spotted at the rally, showing "we want our country returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring online response to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has sparked significant anger for some. One Facebook comment they observed said: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

Another urged their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also encountered accusations that they were informants for the UK authorities, and traitors to other Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish-origin community," Saman explains. "Our objective is to uncover those who have compromised its standing. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish identity and deeply concerned about the behavior of such people."

Most of those seeking refugee status say they are fleeing politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He says he had to live on under £20 a week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now get approximately forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which provides food, according to Home Office policies.

"Realistically saying, this is not adequate to sustain a respectable life," says the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prevented from working, he thinks numerous are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are effectively "obligated to work in the unofficial market for as low as three pounds per hour".

A representative for the Home Office said: "We are unapologetic for refusing to grant refugee applicants the permission to be employed - doing so would establish an reason for people to come to the UK without authorization."

Refugee cases can take multiple years to be resolved with nearly a third taking over one year, according to government figures from the spring this current year.

Saman states working illegally in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been extremely simple to accomplish, but he explained to the team he would not have done that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he interviewed laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "confused", notably those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"They spent their entire funds to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've forfeited everything."

The other reporter agrees that these people seemed hopeless.

"If [they] state you're not allowed to work - but additionally [you]