The Reasons We Went Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish-background men consented to operate secretly to uncover a operation behind unlawful main street enterprises because the criminals are negatively affecting the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they explain.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish investigators who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for years.

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was running small shops, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout Britain, and sought to learn more about how it worked and who was involved.

Prepared with covert cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to work, seeking to buy and run a mini-mart from which to sell contraband cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to uncover how easy it is for a person in these situations to set up and run a business on the High Street in full view. The individuals involved, we learned, compensate Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the operations in their names, enabling to mislead the authorities.

Ali and Saman also were able to covertly film one of those at the centre of the network, who claimed that he could eliminate official penalties of up to £60,000 faced those using unauthorized workers.

"I sought to contribute in revealing these illegal operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not speak for our community," says one reporter, a former refugee applicant personally. The reporter entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a region that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his life was at threat.

The reporters acknowledge that conflicts over unauthorized migration are significant in the UK and say they have both been anxious that the investigation could inflame tensions.

But the other reporter explains that the illegal labor "damages the entire Kurdish community" and he believes obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, the journalist mentions he was concerned the publication could be used by the radical right.

He states this particularly impressed him when he discovered that radical right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity protest was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working secretly. Placards and banners could be spotted at the gathering, displaying "we demand our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring online response to the investigation from inside the Kurdish-origin population and say it has sparked strong outrage for certain individuals. One Facebook post they observed read: "How can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

A different called for their relatives in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also encountered claims that they were agents for the British authorities, and betrayers to other Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish population," Saman explains. "Our aim is to reveal those who have damaged its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and profoundly troubled about the behavior of such people."

Most of those applying for asylum state they are escaping political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that assists asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he initially came to the UK, faced difficulties for years. He states he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which provides meals, according to government guidance.

"Honestly speaking, this is not adequate to support a respectable lifestyle," says the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are generally prevented from working, he thinks many are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are essentially "forced to work in the illegal market for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the Home Office stated: "We are unapologetic for refusing to grant asylum seekers the permission to be employed - doing so would create an incentive for individuals to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Asylum cases can take a long time to be decided with almost a 33% requiring over one year, according to official statistics from the late March this year.

The reporter says working without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely straightforward to do, but he informed the team he would never have done that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he met employed in illegal mini-marts during his investigation seemed "lost", particularly those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"They spent all their money to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've lost everything."

The other reporter acknowledges that these people seemed hopeless.

"If [they] declare you're not allowed to be employed - but simultaneously [you]