The Reasons Our Team Went Covert to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish men consented to operate secretly to reveal a operation behind illegal commercial businesses because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the image of Kurds in the Britain, they state.

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

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was running convenience stores, barbershops and car washes the length of the United Kingdom, and sought to discover more about how it worked and who was participating.

Armed with covert recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to work, seeking to acquire and run a small shop from which to trade unlawful cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to reveal how simple it is for an individual in these circumstances to start and run a enterprise on the High Street in plain sight. The individuals involved, we found, compensate Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to register the operations in their names, enabling to fool the authorities.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to discreetly film one of those at the centre of the network, who stated that he could erase government penalties of up to £60k imposed on those hiring unauthorized laborers.

"Personally aimed to contribute in exposing these unlawful activities [...] to declare that they don't characterize us," states Saman, a former asylum seeker himself. The reporter came to the country illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his life was at danger.

The reporters acknowledge that tensions over illegal immigration are high in the UK and explain they have both been anxious that the inquiry could worsen hostilities.

But Ali says that the illegal labor "harms the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he feels driven to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, the journalist says he was concerned the reporting could be seized upon by the radical right.

He states this particularly struck him when he noticed that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working undercover. Banners and flags could be seen at the gathering, reading "we demand our country returned".

The reporters have both been monitoring social media response to the investigation from inside the Kurdish-origin community and report it has caused strong frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they spotted said: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

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

They have also encountered allegations that they were spies for the British government, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish population," one reporter says. "Our goal is to reveal those who have damaged its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish heritage and extremely worried about the actions of such individuals."

Most of those seeking asylum say they are escaping politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that supports asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the situation for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for years. He states he had to live on under £20 a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which includes food, according to Home Office policies.

"Practically stating, this is not enough to support a acceptable existence," explains the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are generally prohibited from working, he thinks numerous are open to being manipulated and are effectively "obligated to labor in the unofficial market for as low as £3 per hour".

A official for the Home Office stated: "We do not apologize for denying refugee applicants the permission to be employed - granting this would create an motivation for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Refugee applications can take years to be resolved with approximately a one-third requiring over one year, according to official data from the late March this year.

The reporter says working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been extremely simple to do, but he informed the team he would not have participated in that.

However, he states that those he met employed in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"They used all their money to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've lost their entire investment."

The other reporter agrees that these individuals seemed desperate.

"When [they] declare you're not allowed to work - but also [you]