The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals consented to go undercover to reveal a operation behind unlawful commercial businesses because the criminals are damaging the image of Kurds in the Britain, they say.

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

Investigators found that a Kurdish crime network was running convenience stores, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout the United Kingdom, and wanted to discover more about how it operated and who was participating.

Armed with secret recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no right to work, seeking to acquire and operate a small shop from which to sell illegal tobacco products and vapes.

They were able to discover how easy it is for someone in these conditions to establish and manage a business on the commercial area in full view. Those participating, we learned, pay Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the businesses in their identities, assisting to deceive the officials.

Saman and Ali also were able to covertly record one of those at the core of the organization, who asserted that he could remove government penalties of up to £60,000 faced those employing illegal laborers.

"I wanted to participate in exposing these illegal practices [...] to declare that they don't characterize our community," explains Saman, a ex- refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the United Kingdom illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his life was at danger.

The investigators acknowledge that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are significant in the UK and explain they have both been anxious that the probe could worsen tensions.

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized employment "damages the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he believes driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Additionally, Ali mentions he was worried the coverage could be seized upon by the far-right.

He states this particularly impressed him when he noticed that radical right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity rally was taking place in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working undercover. Banners and flags could be spotted at the protest, reading "we want our country back".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring social media reaction to the investigation from inside the Kurdish community and report it has sparked significant anger for some. One social media post they found said: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

A different called for their families in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also seen allegations that they were agents for the UK authorities, and betrayers to other Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish-origin population," Saman says. "Our objective is to uncover those who have damaged its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and extremely worried about the behavior of such individuals."

Most of those seeking refugee status state they are escaping politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a organization that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the case for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he first came to the UK, experienced challenges for many years. He says he had to survive on under £20 a per week while his asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which includes food, according to official regulations.

"Honestly stating, this is not sufficient to maintain a acceptable life," explains Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are generally prohibited from working, he feels numerous are open to being manipulated and are essentially "forced to work in the unofficial economy for as low as three pounds per hour".

A official for the Home Office stated: "The government are unapologetic for denying refugee applicants the permission to work - doing so would generate an reason for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Asylum cases can take years to be resolved with nearly a third requiring more than one year, according to official data from the end of March this year.

Saman says working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been quite easy to accomplish, but he explained to us he would never have done that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he encountered working in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "lost", particularly those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals used their entire savings to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've sacrificed everything."

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

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