The Reasons Our Team Went Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish men consented to work covertly to expose a operation behind illegal High Street establishments because the criminals are damaging the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they state.

The pair, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for many years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was operating convenience stores, hair salons and car washes the length of the United Kingdom, and aimed to learn more about how it operated and who was participating.

Armed with secret cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no permission to be employed, attempting to buy and run a small shop from which to trade contraband tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were able to reveal how simple it is for a person in these conditions to set up and manage a enterprise on the High Street in full view. Those involved, we learned, pay Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the operations in their identities, assisting to fool the officials.

Ali and Saman also were able to secretly document one of those at the centre of the operation, who asserted that he could erase government sanctions of up to £60,000 encountered those using illegal laborers.

"Personally wanted to participate in revealing these unlawful practices [...] to declare that they don't characterize our community," says Saman, a ex- asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the UK without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a region that spans the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his well-being was at risk.

The journalists admit that disagreements over illegal immigration are high in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been worried that the investigation could inflame tensions.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized employment "negatively affects the entire Kurdish community" and he considers driven to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, the journalist says he was concerned the reporting could be used by the far-right.

He explains this notably struck him when he noticed that radical right activist a prominent activist's national unity protest was occurring in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Banners and flags could be observed at the gathering, reading "we demand our country returned".

The reporters have both been monitoring social media feedback to the investigation from inside the Kurdish-origin community and explain it has generated intense anger for certain individuals. One social media message they spotted stated: "How can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

Another urged their relatives in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered allegations that they were spies for the UK authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not informants, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish population," Saman explains. "Our aim is to reveal those who have compromised its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish identity and extremely concerned about the behavior of such persons."

Most of those seeking asylum claim they are fleeing politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a charity that helps asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the case for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, struggled for many years. He explains he had to survive on under twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now receive about forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which offers meals, according to government policies.

"Realistically stating, this is not sufficient to sustain a respectable lifestyle," says the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are largely restricted from employment, he believes many are open to being exploited and are effectively "forced to labor in the unofficial market for as little as £3 per hour".

A representative for the authorities commented: "The government do not apologize for denying refugee applicants the permission to work - granting this would generate an incentive for people to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum applications can require multiple years to be decided with nearly a one-third taking more than 12 months, according to government figures from the end of March this year.

The reporter explains being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been very easy to do, but he informed the team he would not have participated in that.

However, he explains that those he encountered laboring in illegal convenience stores during his research seemed "confused", particularly those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals used all their savings to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum rejected and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

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

"When [they] say you're prohibited to work - but simultaneously [you]