Why We Went Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals agreed to operate secretly to reveal a operation behind illegal main street establishments because the criminals are damaging the reputation of Kurdish people in the UK, they say.

The pair, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both resided lawfully in the United Kingdom for many years.

Investigators found that a Kurdish crime network was operating mini-marts, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across Britain, and wanted to find out more about how it functioned and who was taking part.

Prepared with covert cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no permission to be employed, attempting to acquire and operate a convenience store from which to distribute contraband cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how simple it is for a person in these circumstances to set up and operate a commercial operation on the High Street in public view. Those participating, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their names, enabling to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also were able to discreetly film one of those at the centre of the network, who claimed that he could eliminate official fines of up to £60k imposed on those employing illegal employees.

"Personally aimed to play a role in revealing these illegal operations [...] to say that they don't characterize our community," explains one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. Saman entered the country illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his safety was at threat.

The reporters admit that conflicts over illegal immigration are significant in the UK and explain they have both been concerned that the probe could intensify conflicts.

But the other reporter states that the illegal working "negatively affects the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he feels obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, Ali says he was anxious the reporting could be used by the far-right.

He says this especially affected him when he noticed that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity rally was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating undercover. Placards and flags could be observed at the protest, showing "we want our country back".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring online reaction to the exposé from inside the Kurdish population and say it has sparked intense frustration for certain individuals. One social media message they observed stated: "How can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

One more demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also seen claims that they were agents for the British authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish population," one reporter explains. "Our objective is to reveal those who have compromised its image. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and profoundly worried about the activities of such individuals."

Most of those seeking refugee status state they are fleeing politically motivated oppression, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a charity that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for years. He says he had to live on under £20 a week while his asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers now are provided about forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which includes food, according to Home Office policies.

"Honestly speaking, this is not adequate to maintain a dignified existence," says the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are largely prohibited from working, he feels a significant number are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are essentially "obligated to work in the unofficial sector for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the government department commented: "We make no apology for refusing to grant asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - doing so would establish an motivation for individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum cases can take a long time to be processed with nearly a 33% taking more than one year, according to official statistics from the spring this year.

Saman says working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been extremely straightforward to accomplish, but he told us he would not have done that.

However, he says that those he met employed in illegal mini-marts during his work seemed "lost", particularly those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended their entire money to migrate to the UK, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've sacrificed everything."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

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