Why We Went Undercover to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

A pair of Kurdish individuals decided to work covertly to expose a organization behind illegal High Street businesses because the lawbreakers are damaging the image of Kurds in the UK, they say.

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

Investigators found that a Kurdish crime network was operating convenience stores, barbershops and car washes throughout the UK, and aimed to discover more about how it worked and who was participating.

Prepared with covert cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish asylum seekers with no authorization to work, seeking to purchase and manage a convenience store from which to distribute unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how simple it is for someone in these conditions to start and manage a business on the commercial area in public view. The individuals involved, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the enterprises in their names, helping to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly document one of those at the heart of the network, who stated that he could erase government sanctions of up to £60k faced those employing unauthorized laborers.

"Personally sought to contribute in revealing these unlawful operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't represent us," explains Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter came to the country illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that covers the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a state - because his safety was at risk.

The journalists acknowledge that disagreements over unauthorized migration are elevated in the UK and explain they have both been anxious that the investigation could worsen tensions.

But Ali says that the illegal employment "negatively affects the whole Kurdish community" and he feels compelled to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, the journalist explains he was concerned the coverage could be exploited by the radical right.

He says this particularly struck him when he discovered that radical right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Signs and banners could be observed at the rally, displaying "we demand our country returned".

The reporters have both been observing social media reaction to the exposé from inside the Kurdish population and report it has sparked intense anger for some. One social media post they spotted stated: "In what way can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

One more called for their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered claims that they were informants for the British authorities, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter says. "Our aim is to uncover those who have compromised its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish identity and extremely troubled about the activities of such individuals."

Most of those applying for asylum state they are escaping political oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He states he had to live on under £20 a per week while his asylum claim was considered.

Refugee applicants now get approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers food, according to official guidance.

"Honestly stating, this isn't enough to maintain a dignified existence," explains Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prohibited from working, he believes numerous are open to being exploited and are effectively "compelled to labor in the illegal market for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A representative for the authorities commented: "We do not apologize for not granting refugee applicants the right to work - granting this would generate an reason for individuals to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Asylum applications can require multiple years to be decided with approximately a one-third requiring over one year, according to official statistics from the end of March this current year.

The reporter explains being employed without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely straightforward to achieve, but he told the team he would not have participated in that.

Nonetheless, he explains that those he met employed in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "confused", particularly those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals spent all of their money to travel to the UK, they had their asylum rejected and now they've forfeited everything."

The other reporter agrees that these individuals seemed desperate.

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