Why We Chose to Go Covert to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish Population

Two Kurdish-background individuals agreed to work covertly to uncover a operation behind illegal commercial enterprises because the criminals are damaging the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they explain.

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

Investigators found that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was running small shops, barbershops and car washes throughout the UK, and sought to learn more about how it operated and who was involved.

Prepared with covert cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to work, looking to buy and manage a convenience store from which to trade unlawful tobacco products and vapes.

They were successful to uncover how simple it is for someone in these conditions to set up and run a enterprise on the High Street in public view. Those involved, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their identities, enabling to deceive the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to discreetly film one of those at the core of the network, who claimed that he could remove government penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those using unauthorized workers.

"I sought to contribute in uncovering these illegal practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't represent us," explains one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. Saman came to the country without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his well-being was at danger.

The journalists admit that conflicts over unauthorized migration are elevated in the UK and explain they have both been worried that the investigation could intensify tensions.

But the other reporter says that the illegal working "harms the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he considers obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, the journalist says he was worried the reporting could be used by the far-right.

He states this particularly affected him when he noticed that far-right activist a prominent activist's national unity protest was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Placards and flags could be seen at the gathering, reading "we demand our nation back".

The reporters have both been observing social media response to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has sparked significant frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook post they observed said: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

Another urged their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also read claims that they were agents for the UK government, and betrayers to other Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish population," one reporter says. "Our aim is to expose those who have compromised its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and extremely concerned about the behavior of such people."

Most of those applying for asylum say they are escaping politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for years. He says he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

Refugee applicants now are provided approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which provides food, according to government regulations.

"Practically stating, this isn't enough to maintain a respectable existence," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are largely prohibited from employment, he thinks numerous are open to being taken advantage of and are effectively "compelled to labor in the illegal sector for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the government department said: "We do not apologize for not granting refugee applicants the authorization to work - doing so would create an motivation for people to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum cases can take years to be processed with nearly a one-third requiring more than 12 months, according to official statistics from the late March this year.

Saman says working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely simple to accomplish, but he informed the team he would never have done that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he interviewed employed in illegal mini-marts during his work seemed "confused", especially those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"They spent their entire funds to travel to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've lost their entire investment."

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

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