Why We Chose to Go Covert to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals consented to operate secretly to uncover a network behind unlawful High Street enterprises because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the image of Kurds in the UK, they explain.

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

The team uncovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was managing convenience stores, barbershops and car washes throughout the United Kingdom, and sought to learn more about how it worked and who was participating.

Armed with secret recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no right to work, looking to buy and operate a mini-mart from which to sell illegal tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were able to reveal how easy it is for an individual in these circumstances to set up and operate a commercial operation on the main street in public view. The individuals involved, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the operations in their names, assisting to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also were able to covertly document one of those at the centre of the organization, who claimed that he could erase official sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those using unauthorized laborers.

"Personally aimed to participate in revealing these unlawful activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't represent us," states Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter entered the country illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a territory that straddles the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his safety was at danger.

The reporters admit that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are significant in the UK and say they have both been concerned that the investigation could intensify conflicts.

But Ali states that the illegal employment "harms the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he considers driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, Ali mentions he was concerned the reporting could be exploited by the extreme right.

He states this notably affected him when he realized that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was occurring in London on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Placards and flags could be observed at the rally, reading "we demand our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring social media response to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin community and report it has sparked significant anger for certain individuals. One Facebook post they found stated: "In what way can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

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

They have also read allegations that they were agents for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not informants, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish-origin community," Saman explains. "Our objective is to uncover those who have damaged its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish identity and extremely troubled about the behavior of such persons."

The majority of those seeking asylum claim they are escaping political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He explains he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was considered.

Refugee applicants now are provided approximately £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which provides food, according to government regulations.

"Practically speaking, this isn't adequate to sustain a dignified lifestyle," states Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly restricted from working, he feels numerous are susceptible to being exploited and are effectively "compelled to labor in the unofficial market for as little as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities commented: "We are unapologetic for refusing to grant asylum seekers the permission to work - granting this would generate an motivation for individuals to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Refugee cases can take years to be resolved with almost a third taking more than 12 months, according to official figures from the end of March this current year.

The reporter says working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been quite simple to achieve, but he told us he would not have done that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he met laboring in unauthorized mini-marts during his investigation seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals expended all of their money to migrate to the UK, they had their refugee application refused and now they've sacrificed everything."

The other reporter agrees that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] say you're forbidden to be employed - but also [you]