Why We Went Covert to Expose Crime in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals agreed to go undercover to expose a organization behind unlawful main street businesses because the criminals are negatively affecting the standing of Kurds in the UK, they say.

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

Investigators found that a Kurdish-linked crime network was running small shops, hair salons and car washes the length of Britain, and aimed to discover more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Equipped with covert recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no authorization to be employed, attempting to buy and run a mini-mart from which to distribute illegal cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how easy it is for a person in these situations to establish and manage a business on the High Street in full view. Those participating, we learned, compensate Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the operations in their names, assisting to mislead the officials.

Saman and Ali also were able to covertly document one of those at the core of the network, who claimed that he could erase official sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those employing illegal workers.

"Personally wanted to participate in exposing these illegal practices [...] to say that they don't speak for Kurdish people," says Saman, a ex- refugee applicant himself. Saman came to the United Kingdom illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that spans the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a nation - because his well-being was at threat.

The investigators acknowledge that disagreements over illegal immigration are elevated in the UK and state they have both been worried that the probe could inflame hostilities.

But Ali states that the unauthorized working "harms the entire Kurdish community" and he considers driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, the journalist explains he was worried the reporting could be seized upon by the radical right.

He says this notably impressed him when he realized that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity protest was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Banners and flags could be seen at the gathering, displaying "we demand our country returned".

The reporters have both been monitoring social media feedback to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish-origin community and report it has generated significant anger for some. One social media message they found read: "In what way can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

Another called for their relatives in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also seen allegations that they were agents for the UK authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish population," one reporter says. "Our objective is to reveal those who have damaged its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply worried about the actions of such people."

Most of those seeking refugee status claim they are fleeing political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a charity that helps refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He states he had to live on under twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now receive about forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which offers meals, according to official guidance.

"Realistically speaking, this is not sufficient to sustain a acceptable existence," says Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are largely prohibited from working, he believes a significant number are susceptible to being exploited and are essentially "compelled to labor in the unofficial economy for as little as £3 per hour".

A official for the government department commented: "We do not apologize for denying asylum seekers the right to be employed - granting this would create an incentive for people to migrate to the UK illegally."

Refugee cases can require a long time to be processed with approximately a 33% taking more than one year, according to government figures from the spring this current year.

The reporter says working without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been quite simple to achieve, but he told us he would not have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he encountered laboring in illegal mini-marts during his research seemed "lost", particularly those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals used all their savings to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum rejected and now they've forfeited everything."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"When [they] state you're prohibited to be employed - but also [you]