Why We Chose to Go Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals consented to work covertly to expose a network behind unlawful main street businesses because the wrongdoers are damaging the image of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.

The pair, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish reporters who have both lived legally in the United Kingdom for years.

The team found that a Kurdish crime network was operating small shops, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services across the United Kingdom, and wanted to discover more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Equipped with covert recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no authorization to work, seeking to purchase and run a small shop from which to trade illegal cigarettes and vapes.

They were able to discover how easy it is for a person in these circumstances to establish and run a commercial operation on the main street in full view. The individuals involved, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to register the operations in their names, helping to deceive the government agencies.

Ali and Saman also were able to discreetly record one of those at the centre of the network, who asserted that he could eliminate government sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those employing unauthorized laborers.

"I sought to contribute in uncovering these unlawful operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not speak for Kurdish people," says Saman, a ex- refugee applicant personally. The reporter came to the UK illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his well-being was at danger.

The journalists acknowledge that tensions over unauthorized immigration are significant in the UK and say they have both been worried that the investigation could inflame tensions.

But Ali states that the illegal labor "harms the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he considers driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, the journalist mentions he was concerned the publication could be exploited by the far-right.

He states this especially impressed him when he noticed that radical right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity march was occurring in London on one of the weekends he was operating undercover. Banners and banners could be spotted at the protest, displaying "we want our country back".

The reporters have both been tracking social media reaction to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and say it has caused strong outrage for some. One social media post they spotted read: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

Another demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also seen claims that they were informants for the UK authorities, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter explains. "Our aim is to expose those who have compromised its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply concerned about the behavior of such people."

Most of those applying for asylum say they are escaping politically motivated persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a charity that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the case for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He explains he had to live on under £20 a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Refugee applicants now are provided about forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which provides food, according to official regulations.

"Practically saying, this is not enough to sustain a dignified life," says the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly restricted from employment, he thinks a significant number are vulnerable to being manipulated and are practically "obligated to work in the black sector for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the authorities said: "We do not apologize for denying asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - doing so would generate an reason for people to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee applications can take years to be processed with almost a third taking more than 12 months, according to official statistics from the end of March this year.

Saman says being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been quite easy to do, but he explained to the team he would never have done that.

Nonetheless, he explains that those he met working in unauthorized mini-marts during his work seemed "confused", notably those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"They used their entire funds to come to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've lost everything."

The other reporter acknowledges that these people seemed desperate.

"When [they] declare you're forbidden to work - but also [you]