The Reasons We Chose to Go Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

A pair of Kurdish-background men agreed to operate secretly to reveal a network behind illegal commercial establishments because the criminals are damaging the image of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they explain.

The pair, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish journalists who have both resided legally in the UK for years.

Investigators found that a Kurdish-linked crime network was managing small shops, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services across the UK, and aimed to discover more about how it operated and who was participating.

Prepared with secret cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to be employed, seeking to buy and operate a convenience store from which to trade unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to discover how easy it is for someone in these situations to establish and run a commercial operation on the commercial area in public view. The individuals participating, we found, pay Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their identities, assisting to fool the authorities.

Saman and Ali also were able to secretly record one of those at the core of the network, who stated that he could remove government sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those using unauthorized workers.

"Personally aimed to participate in exposing these unlawful operations [...] to say that they do not characterize our community," explains one reporter, a former asylum seeker personally. Saman entered the United Kingdom illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a area that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a nation - because his life was at danger.

The investigators acknowledge that tensions over illegal immigration are high in the UK and say they have both been worried that the probe could worsen hostilities.

But Ali says that the unauthorized working "harms the whole Kurdish population" and he considers obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, the journalist mentions he was concerned the coverage could be seized upon by the far-right.

He explains this particularly struck him when he discovered that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Placards and banners could be spotted at the rally, displaying "we want our country returned".

Both journalists have both been tracking social media response to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has caused significant anger for some. One Facebook post they spotted said: "How can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

A different demanded their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also seen accusations that they were agents for the UK authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish population," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to reveal those who have damaged its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish identity and deeply concerned about the activities of such individuals."

The majority of those seeking refugee status state they are fleeing political persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the UK, struggled for many years. He explains he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was considered.

Asylum seekers now receive about £49 a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which includes food, according to government policies.

"Practically speaking, this is not adequate to maintain a respectable life," states the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are generally prevented from working, he feels numerous are susceptible to being manipulated and are practically "compelled to work in the illegal economy for as little as £3 per hour".

A representative for the Home Office said: "The government make no apology for refusing to grant asylum seekers the permission to work - doing so would create an incentive for individuals to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Asylum applications can take years to be processed with nearly a one-third taking over a year, according to official data from the late March this year.

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

Nevertheless, he explains that those he encountered employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his investigation seemed "lost", especially those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals used their entire money to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've lost all they had."

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

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