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

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals decided to work covertly to expose a network behind illegal High Street establishments because the lawbreakers are damaging the image of Kurds in the UK, they explain.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both lived legally in the UK for many years.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was running small shops, hair salons and car washes the length of the UK, and aimed to discover more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Equipped with secret recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to be employed, looking to buy and manage a convenience store from which to distribute contraband cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to uncover how simple it is for someone in these circumstances to establish and operate a business on the main street in public view. Those participating, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their names, assisting to mislead the government agencies.

Ali and Saman also managed to covertly film one of those at the heart of the operation, who asserted that he could erase official penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those hiring unauthorized laborers.

"I sought to contribute in revealing these illegal operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't represent Kurdish people," explains one reporter, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a region that spans the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his safety was at risk.

The journalists recognize that tensions over unauthorized immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and say they have both been worried that the probe could intensify conflicts.

But Ali states that the unauthorized employment "harms the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he feels obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, Ali says he was anxious the reporting could be seized upon by the far-right.

He states this especially struck him when he noticed that radical right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity rally was happening in London on one of the weekends he was working undercover. Placards and banners could be observed at the protest, displaying "we want our country returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring online feedback to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish community and explain it has sparked significant frustration for certain individuals. One social media message they observed read: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

One more called for their relatives in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also read accusations that they were agents for the British government, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish-origin population," Saman explains. "Our goal is to uncover those who have compromised its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and deeply worried about the behavior of such individuals."

Most of those seeking asylum say they are fleeing political discrimination, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first came to the UK, struggled for many years. He says he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about £49 a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which provides food, according to official policies.

"Practically speaking, this is not adequate to sustain a acceptable life," explains Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are largely restricted from working, he thinks many are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are essentially "obligated to labor in the illegal economy for as little as £3 per hour".

A representative for the government department stated: "The government do not apologize for not granting refugee applicants the right to work - doing so would establish an incentive for individuals to come to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum cases can take multiple years to be processed with almost a 33% taking over a year, according to official statistics from the end of March this year.

Saman states working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been extremely easy to accomplish, but he explained to us he would never have done that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he met employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", notably those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals expended all of their money to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've forfeited all they had."

Ali concurs that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] state you're not allowed to work - but simultaneously [you]