The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish men consented to go undercover to uncover a network behind unlawful main street establishments because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the standing of Kurdish people in the Britain, they explain.

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

The team found that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was managing mini-marts, hair salons and car washes throughout the UK, and aimed to discover more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Armed with secret cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to work, seeking to buy and run a convenience store from which to trade contraband cigarettes and vapes.

They were successful to reveal how simple it is for an individual in these circumstances to start and manage a enterprise on the High Street in full view. The individuals participating, we found, compensate Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the enterprises in their names, enabling to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also managed to discreetly document one of those at the core of the organization, who claimed that he could remove government sanctions of up to £60k encountered those employing illegal employees.

"Personally sought to play a role in uncovering these illegal practices [...] to declare that they don't represent us," states one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. Saman came to the United Kingdom without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a area that spans the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a state - because his well-being was at threat.

The investigators recognize that tensions over unauthorized migration are high in the United Kingdom and state they have both been anxious that the probe could intensify tensions.

But the other reporter explains that the illegal employment "harms the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he believes driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Additionally, the journalist explains he was worried the reporting could be exploited by the extreme right.

He explains this especially impressed him when he realized that radical right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Signs and flags could be seen at the gathering, showing "we want our nation returned".

The reporters have both been observing online feedback to the exposé from within the Kurdish population and report it has sparked strong outrage for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they spotted read: "How can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

A different called for their relatives in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also read accusations that they were informants for the British government, and traitors to other Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish population," Saman explains. "Our goal is to uncover those who have damaged its image. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply worried about the behavior of such people."

Most of those applying for asylum claim they are fleeing political oppression, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that helps asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He states he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Asylum seekers now get about £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which includes meals, according to official guidance.

"Realistically speaking, this isn't adequate to maintain a dignified lifestyle," explains the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prevented from employment, he feels a significant number are open to being taken advantage of and are practically "compelled to labor in the black sector for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the authorities said: "The government are unapologetic for not granting asylum seekers the permission to be employed - granting this would establish an incentive for individuals to migrate to the UK illegally."

Refugee cases can require years to be resolved with approximately a one-third requiring over 12 months, according to official statistics from the spring this year.

Saman explains being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely easy to do, but he informed us he would never have participated in that.

However, he says that those he interviewed employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his work seemed "confused", particularly those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals used their entire funds to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've lost everything."

Ali acknowledges that these people seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] state you're prohibited to work - but simultaneously [you]