The Reasons We Went Covert to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals agreed to work covertly to reveal a organization behind illegal commercial businesses because the wrongdoers are damaging the reputation of Kurdish people in the UK, they say.

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

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was managing small shops, hair salons and car washes the length of the UK, and sought to discover more about how it worked and who was involved.

Armed with covert recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish asylum seekers with no right to be employed, seeking to buy and operate a mini-mart from which to distribute illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to discover how easy it is for someone in these conditions to set up and operate a commercial operation on the commercial area in public view. The individuals participating, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the operations in their names, enabling to deceive the officials.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to secretly record one of those at the core of the operation, who stated that he could remove official penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those hiring illegal laborers.

"Personally aimed to play a role in revealing these illegal practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't speak for Kurdish people," states one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant personally. Saman came to the UK without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that covers the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his life was at risk.

The journalists acknowledge that tensions over illegal migration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the inquiry could intensify tensions.

But Ali states that the unauthorized labor "damages the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he believes compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, the journalist says he was worried the coverage could be exploited by the extreme right.

He says this particularly affected him when he noticed that far-right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was taking place in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working undercover. Placards and banners could be observed at the rally, showing "we demand our nation back".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring online feedback to the inquiry from within the Kurdish-origin population and report it has sparked significant frustration for certain individuals. One social media message they spotted stated: "In what way can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

Another demanded their families in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered accusations that they were spies for the British authorities, and betrayers to other Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish community," one reporter explains. "Our objective is to expose those who have compromised its standing. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply concerned about the actions of such people."

Most of those applying for refugee status state they are fleeing political discrimination, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that helps asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the case for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He says he had to live on less than twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately £49 a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which includes meals, according to government policies.

"Practically stating, this isn't enough to maintain a dignified lifestyle," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are generally prohibited from employment, he feels a significant number are open to being exploited and are essentially "compelled to labor in the illegal sector for as low as £3 per hourly rate".

A representative for the authorities said: "The government are unapologetic for not granting refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - granting this would establish an incentive for people to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee cases can require a long time to be decided with almost a one-third taking more than a year, according to government statistics from the late March this year.

Saman states working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been very simple to do, but he informed us he would never have done that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he met working in illegal mini-marts during his research seemed "confused", particularly those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals spent their entire funds to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've sacrificed everything."

Ali acknowledges that these individuals seemed desperate.

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