The Reasons We Went Covert to Expose Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

A pair of Kurdish-background men agreed to go undercover to reveal a organization behind illegal main street enterprises because the wrongdoers are damaging the reputation of Kurds in the Britain, they explain.

The two, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both lived legally in the United Kingdom for a long time.

The team discovered that a Kurdish crime network was operating mini-marts, barbershops and car washes the length of the UK, and wanted to learn more about how it functioned and who was taking part.

Prepared with secret cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no right to be employed, attempting to acquire and manage a convenience store from which to sell contraband tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to uncover how straightforward it is for someone in these conditions to set up and run a enterprise on the commercial area in public view. Those participating, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their identities, helping to fool the officials.

Ali and Saman also were able to covertly record one of those at the core of the network, who claimed that he could remove official penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those hiring unauthorized workers.

"I aimed to contribute in revealing these illegal activities [...] to declare that they don't represent Kurdish people," says Saman, a former refugee applicant himself. Saman came to the United Kingdom without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his well-being was at threat.

The investigators recognize that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and state they have both been concerned that the probe could inflame conflicts.

But Ali states that the illegal employment "harms the whole Kurdish population" and he feels obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, Ali says he was worried the coverage could be exploited by the extreme right.

He says this notably struck him when he realized that radical right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity rally was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working covertly. Placards and banners could be observed at the rally, showing "we demand our nation returned".

Saman and Ali have both been observing online reaction to the investigation from inside the Kurdish-origin community and explain it has generated intense anger for some. One Facebook message they spotted stated: "How can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

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

They have also read accusations that they were spies for the British government, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter says. "Our goal is to expose those who have compromised its image. We are proud of our Kurdish heritage and deeply concerned about the behavior of such people."

The majority of those applying for refugee status state they are escaping politically motivated oppression, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a charity that helps refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, experienced challenges for many years. He explains he had to live on under £20 a week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now get about £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which provides meals, according to official guidance.

"Practically stating, this is not adequate to maintain a respectable life," states Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are generally restricted from working, he believes a significant number are open to being taken advantage of and are effectively "obligated to labor in the illegal economy for as little as three pounds per hour".

A representative for the Home Office stated: "The government do not apologize for denying asylum seekers the right to work - granting this would generate an reason for individuals to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum cases can require a long time to be resolved with approximately a 33% taking more than a year, according to government figures from the late March this current year.

Saman says being employed illegally in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been very straightforward to achieve, but he told us he would never have participated in that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he met laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his research seemed "lost", notably those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

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

The other reporter concurs that these individuals seemed desperate.

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