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

Two Kurdish-background individuals decided to work covertly to uncover a operation behind illegal main street establishments because the wrongdoers are causing harm the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they state.

The pair, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish investigators who have both lived legally in the United Kingdom for many years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was managing convenience stores, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout Britain, and aimed to find out more about how it worked and who was involved.

Equipped with secret recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to work, attempting to acquire and operate a small shop from which to distribute contraband tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were successful to discover how easy it is for an individual in these conditions to establish and run a commercial operation on the High Street in public view. The individuals involved, we discovered, compensate Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the operations in their identities, helping to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also were able to secretly film one of those at the centre of the operation, who claimed that he could erase government fines of up to £60k faced those hiring illegal employees.

"Personally aimed to participate in uncovering these unlawful operations [...] to say that they do not characterize us," explains one reporter, a former refugee applicant personally. The reporter entered the country without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a territory that straddles the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his life was at threat.

The journalists recognize that tensions over unauthorized immigration are high in the UK and state they have both been anxious that the investigation could worsen hostilities.

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

Furthermore, Ali mentions he was anxious the publication could be used by the radical right.

He states this notably struck him when he discovered that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity march was taking place in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working covertly. Placards and flags could be spotted at the protest, reading "we demand our nation back".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking online response to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin community and say it has sparked strong frustration for some. One Facebook post they spotted said: "In what way can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

Another demanded their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also seen claims that they were informants for the UK authorities, and traitors to other Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish population," one reporter explains. "Our objective is to uncover those who have compromised its image. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin heritage and extremely worried about the activities of such people."

The majority of those seeking asylum say they are fleeing political oppression, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a charity that helps asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the situation for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, faced difficulties for years. He explains he had to live on under twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now are provided about £49 a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which offers food, according to official regulations.

"Honestly stating, this is not adequate to maintain a dignified lifestyle," states the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are generally prevented from employment, he feels many are open to being exploited and are essentially "compelled to work in the black economy for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the government department commented: "We make no apology for denying refugee applicants the right to work - granting this would create an reason for people to come to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum applications can take multiple years to be resolved with almost a 33% taking over a year, according to official statistics from the spring this year.

Saman says being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been very straightforward to accomplish, but he informed the team he would never have done that.

However, he explains that those he interviewed laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his investigation seemed "confused", especially those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They spent all of their savings to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've forfeited everything."

Ali agrees that these people seemed desperate.

"If [they] state you're prohibited to be employed - but also [you]