Why We Chose to Go Undercover to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals decided to work covertly to expose a network behind illegal main street businesses because the lawbreakers are causing harm the reputation of Kurdish people in the UK, they state.

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

The team uncovered that a Kurdish crime network was operating convenience stores, barbershops and car washes throughout Britain, and wanted to discover more about how it operated and who was participating.

Armed with hidden recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to work, looking to acquire and run a convenience store from which to trade unlawful tobacco products and vapes.

They were successful to uncover how straightforward it is for an individual in these situations to set up and operate a commercial operation on the commercial area in public view. The individuals participating, we learned, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their names, enabling to fool the officials.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to covertly record one of those at the heart of the operation, who claimed that he could eliminate official penalties of up to £60,000 faced those hiring unauthorized workers.

"I sought to play a role in uncovering these unlawful activities [...] to say that they do not characterize Kurdish people," states Saman, a ex- asylum seeker himself. Saman entered the country without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his well-being was at threat.

The journalists admit that disagreements over unauthorized immigration are high in the UK and explain they have both been worried that the investigation could inflame tensions.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized labor "damages the entire Kurdish population" and he considers driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, Ali explains he was worried the coverage could be used by the radical right.

He states this notably affected him when he discovered that extreme right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was taking place in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working covertly. Banners and flags could be observed at the protest, reading "we want our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been observing online feedback to the investigation from inside the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has generated intense frustration for certain individuals. One social media message they found stated: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

One more urged their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also encountered claims that they were informants for the British government, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish population," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to reveal those who have damaged its reputation. We are proud of our Kurdish heritage and profoundly worried about the actions of such persons."

Most of those seeking refugee status claim they are escaping politically motivated discrimination, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges 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 approximately £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which includes food, according to government guidance.

"Practically speaking, this isn't enough to support a respectable lifestyle," states the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are generally prevented from working, he thinks many are susceptible to being manipulated and are effectively "obligated to labor in the black economy for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the government department stated: "The government make no apology for denying asylum seekers the right to be employed - doing so would generate an incentive for people to travel to the UK without authorization."

Asylum cases can take multiple years to be resolved with almost a one-third requiring more than one year, according to official figures from the late March this year.

The reporter says working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been quite simple to achieve, but he explained to us he would never have engaged in that.

However, he states that those he encountered employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "confused", especially those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals used all their money to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've sacrificed all they had."

The other reporter acknowledges that these individuals seemed desperate.

"When [they] declare you're not allowed to be employed - but additionally [you]