Why We Went Undercover to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

Two Kurdish-background individuals agreed to go undercover to uncover a organization behind illegal commercial businesses because the criminals are negatively affecting the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they explain.

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

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was running mini-marts, barbershops and car washes throughout the UK, and aimed to learn more about how it functioned and who was taking part.

Prepared with hidden recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no permission to be employed, attempting to acquire and run a small shop from which to distribute unlawful tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how straightforward it is for someone in these situations to set up and operate a commercial operation on the High Street in public view. Those participating, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their names, helping to fool the officials.

Ali and Saman also managed to secretly document one of those at the centre of the organization, who asserted that he could eliminate official fines of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those hiring illegal laborers.

"I sought to play a role in uncovering these illegal operations [...] to say that they do not characterize Kurdish people," explains one reporter, a former refugee applicant personally. Saman came to the UK illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his life was at danger.

The reporters admit that tensions over illegal immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and state they have both been anxious that the inquiry could intensify conflicts.

But the other reporter states that the illegal employment "negatively affects the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he believes driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, Ali says he was worried the reporting could be used by the extreme right.

He explains this particularly struck him when he realized that radical right activist a prominent activist's national unity march was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Signs and flags could be observed at the protest, reading "we demand our country back".

Both journalists have both been monitoring online response to the investigation from within the Kurdish population and explain it has generated intense anger for some. One Facebook post they observed stated: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

A different demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also encountered claims that they were spies for the UK government, and betrayers to other Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish community," one reporter explains. "Our objective is to expose those who have damaged its standing. We are honored of our Kurdish identity and deeply troubled about the behavior of such persons."

The majority of those seeking refugee status say they are fleeing political oppression, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, struggled for many years. He explains he had to survive on under £20 a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Refugee applicants now are provided about £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which offers food, according to official guidance.

"Realistically stating, this isn't adequate to sustain a respectable lifestyle," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are largely prohibited from employment, he feels many are susceptible to being manipulated and are effectively "compelled to labor in the illegal sector for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the authorities commented: "We make no apology for not granting refugee applicants the permission to work - granting this would create an incentive for people to travel to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Refugee cases can require a long time to be processed with approximately a third taking over one year, according to official figures from the spring this year.

Saman says being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been very straightforward to achieve, but he informed the team he would never have done that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he met working in unauthorized convenience stores during his research seemed "disoriented", notably those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals expended their entire money to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've forfeited everything."

Ali agrees that these people seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] state you're not allowed to be employed - but also [you]