Why We Went Covert to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish men decided to go undercover to expose a network behind illegal High Street businesses because the lawbreakers are causing harm the reputation of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they state.

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

The team uncovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was operating mini-marts, hair salons and car washes across the UK, and wanted to find out more about how it operated and who was involved.

Armed with secret recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to work, seeking to buy and manage a mini-mart from which to trade illegal tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were able to reveal how straightforward it is for a person in these situations to establish and run a commercial operation on the commercial area in public view. Those involved, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their identities, helping to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to discreetly film one of those at the centre of the network, who stated that he could remove government fines of up to £60,000 encountered those hiring illegal laborers.

"Personally aimed to participate in uncovering these illegal activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not speak for us," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. Saman entered the UK illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his safety was at risk.

The journalists acknowledge that disagreements over illegal migration are significant in the United Kingdom and state they have both been anxious that the probe could worsen tensions.

But Ali states that the unauthorized employment "harms the whole Kurdish population" and he considers obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, Ali explains he was concerned the reporting could be seized upon by the extreme right.

He explains this particularly impressed him when he realized that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working covertly. Placards and banners could be spotted at the rally, displaying "we want our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been observing online feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish population and say it has sparked significant anger for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they found read: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

Another urged their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also seen allegations that they were spies for the UK authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish population," Saman explains. "Our goal is to uncover those who have damaged its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and extremely worried about the actions of such individuals."

Most of those seeking refugee status claim they are fleeing politically motivated oppression, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our covert journalist Saman, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He says he had to live on less than £20 a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now get about £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which offers meals, according to government guidance.

"Realistically saying, this is not sufficient to sustain a dignified existence," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely restricted from working, he believes numerous are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are essentially "compelled to labor in the illegal economy for as little as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the Home Office commented: "The government are unapologetic for denying refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - granting this would create an motivation for people to travel to the UK without authorization."

Refugee cases can take multiple years to be resolved with nearly a third requiring more than a year, according to government statistics from the end of March this current year.

The reporter explains being employed without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been extremely simple to accomplish, but he told the team he would not have done that.

However, he says that those he encountered employed in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

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

Ali acknowledges that these people seemed in dire straits.

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