The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish men decided to operate secretly to reveal a operation behind illegal commercial enterprises because the criminals are damaging the standing of Kurdish people in the Britain, they say.

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

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was running mini-marts, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services the length of Britain, and wanted to discover more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Prepared with covert recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to work, seeking to acquire and operate a mini-mart from which to sell contraband cigarettes and vapes.

They were successful to discover how straightforward it is for a person in these situations to set up and operate a business on the main street in plain sight. Those participating, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to legally establish the businesses in their identities, helping to deceive the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to secretly record one of those at the core of the network, who asserted that he could erase government fines of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those hiring unauthorized employees.

"I wanted to contribute in revealing these illegal activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't represent our community," states Saman, a ex- asylum seeker himself. The reporter came to the UK illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that spans the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his safety was at threat.

The reporters admit that tensions over illegal migration are elevated in the UK and say they have both been worried that the investigation could intensify conflicts.

But the other reporter says that the illegal labor "damages the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he feels compelled to "expose it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, the journalist says he was concerned the publication could be exploited by the radical right.

He states this notably impressed him when he noticed that radical right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity protest was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was operating secretly. Banners and banners could be spotted at the rally, showing "we want our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been tracking online reaction to the exposé from inside the Kurdish population and explain it has sparked strong frustration for some. One social media message they found read: "How can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

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

They have also seen allegations that they were agents for the British government, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We 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 reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish identity and extremely troubled about the behavior of such individuals."

Most of those applying for refugee status say they are escaping politically motivated persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that helps asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for years. He says he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now are provided about £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which provides meals, according to official regulations.

"Honestly speaking, this is not sufficient to maintain a acceptable existence," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are generally prohibited from employment, he thinks many are open to being exploited and are practically "obligated to labor in the illegal sector for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A representative for the government department commented: "The government make no apology for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to work - doing so would establish an motivation for people to migrate to the UK illegally."

Asylum applications can take a long time to be processed with almost a third requiring over a year, according to official statistics from the late March this year.

The reporter explains working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely simple to do, but he informed the team he would never have engaged in that.

However, he states that those he interviewed working in illegal mini-marts during his work seemed "confused", notably those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals expended all their savings to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum refused and now they've sacrificed all they had."

The other reporter agrees that these people seemed hopeless.

"If [they] state you're not allowed to work - but also [you]