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

Two Kurdish individuals agreed to go undercover to uncover a organization behind unlawful High Street enterprises because the wrongdoers are causing harm the standing of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they explain.

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

The team uncovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was running convenience stores, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services the length of the UK, and aimed to learn more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Armed with secret cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no right to be employed, looking to purchase and run a convenience store from which to trade illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to discover how easy it is for a person in these circumstances to establish and operate a business on the High Street in public view. Those participating, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the businesses in their identities, enabling to deceive the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also managed to secretly film one of those at the centre of the operation, who claimed that he could erase official sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those hiring unauthorized laborers.

"Personally sought to play a role in uncovering these unlawful operations [...] to say that they don't speak for our community," explains one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker himself. Saman entered the country without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his well-being was at risk.

The journalists acknowledge that disagreements over illegal migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and say they have both been anxious that the inquiry could inflame hostilities.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized labor "harms the whole Kurdish community" and he feels compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, Ali mentions he was anxious the coverage could be exploited by the extreme right.

He explains this especially affected him when he noticed that extreme right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity march was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was working secretly. Placards and flags could be spotted at the protest, displaying "we want our country back".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking social media feedback to the inquiry from within the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has generated strong anger for some. One social media comment they spotted read: "How can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

Another called for their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also read allegations that they were spies for the British authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish population," one reporter states. "Our objective is to reveal those who have compromised its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and extremely troubled about the behavior of such people."

Most of those applying for asylum claim they are escaping political persecution, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a organization that assists asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our covert journalist Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He explains he had to survive on less than £20 a week while his refugee application was reviewed.

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

"Practically speaking, this is not adequate to maintain a dignified existence," states Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are largely prohibited from employment, he thinks many are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are essentially "obligated to work in the unofficial sector for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the government department stated: "We make no apology for not granting asylum seekers the authorization to work - doing so would establish an incentive for individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Refugee cases can take years to be processed with approximately a third requiring over 12 months, according to official figures from the late March this current year.

Saman states working illegally in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been very straightforward to achieve, but he told us he would never have done that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he interviewed employed in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended all their money to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum rejected and now they've sacrificed everything."

Ali acknowledges that these individuals seemed desperate.

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