The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish individuals consented to go undercover to expose a operation behind unlawful High Street establishments because the lawbreakers are damaging the image of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they say.

The pair, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both lived lawfully in the UK for years.

The team found that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was operating convenience stores, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across the United Kingdom, and sought to discover more about how it worked and who was participating.

Prepared with hidden recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to be employed, attempting to acquire and operate a convenience store from which to distribute unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to discover how straightforward it is for someone in these circumstances to set up and run a business on the High Street in public view. Those involved, we found, pay Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the operations in their identities, enabling to mislead the government agencies.

Ali and Saman also managed to secretly document one of those at the heart of the organization, who stated that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those using unauthorized laborers.

"Personally aimed to contribute in revealing these illegal practices [...] to declare that they don't speak for Kurdish people," states Saman, a ex- asylum seeker personally. Saman entered the UK without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a territory that straddles the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his well-being was at threat.

The reporters acknowledge that conflicts over illegal migration are significant in the United Kingdom and state they have both been anxious that the inquiry could inflame tensions.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized working "damages the whole Kurdish population" and he considers obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, the journalist mentions he was concerned the coverage could be exploited by the extreme right.

He explains this especially struck him when he discovered that extreme right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating secretly. Banners and flags could be observed at the protest, showing "we demand our country returned".

Both journalists have both been observing social media response to the inquiry from within the Kurdish-origin community and report it has caused strong frustration for some. One Facebook post they spotted read: "How can we locate and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

A different urged their relatives in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered allegations that they were spies for the UK government, and traitors to other Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish population," Saman states. "Our aim is to reveal those who have harmed its image. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and profoundly troubled about the actions of such people."

Most of those seeking refugee status claim they are fleeing political persecution, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that assists refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for years. He explains he had to live on less than £20 a week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now get about forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers meals, according to government policies.

"Honestly saying, this isn't adequate to sustain a respectable lifestyle," explains Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely prevented from employment, he thinks a significant number are open to being taken advantage of and are practically "forced to labor in the unofficial sector for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the authorities said: "We make no apology for refusing to grant refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - granting this would generate an reason for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Refugee applications can require multiple years to be processed with nearly a one-third taking more than one year, according to government statistics from the late March this current year.

Saman explains working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite straightforward to achieve, but he informed the team he would never have done that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he encountered laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his research seemed "confused", particularly those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals spent all of their savings to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"If [they] declare you're prohibited to be employed - but simultaneously [you]