The Reasons Our Team Went Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish individuals agreed to go undercover to expose a operation behind unlawful main street enterprises because the criminals are causing harm the reputation of Kurdish people in the Britain, they state.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both lived legally in the UK for many years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was managing small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services throughout the United Kingdom, and sought to find out more about how it worked and who was participating.

Equipped with secret cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to work, attempting to purchase and run a convenience store from which to trade unlawful tobacco products and vapes.

They were successful to discover how straightforward it is for an individual in these conditions to start and run a commercial operation on the High Street in public view. The individuals involved, we learned, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their identities, helping to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to covertly film one of those at the heart of the organization, who stated that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those using illegal laborers.

"I wanted to contribute in exposing these unlawful activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not characterize our community," states Saman, a former refugee applicant himself. Saman entered the UK 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 state - because his life was at threat.

The reporters recognize that disagreements over illegal migration are high in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been worried that the probe could worsen conflicts.

But Ali explains that the illegal employment "harms the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he considers driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, the journalist explains he was concerned the coverage could be seized upon by the far-right.

He explains this particularly impressed him when he realized that radical right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating undercover. Placards and flags could be observed at the rally, showing "we want our nation back".

Both journalists have both been observing social media response to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has generated significant anger for certain individuals. One social media message they observed said: "In what way can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

One more called for their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also read allegations that they were informants for the UK authorities, and traitors to other Kurdish people. "We are not informants, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish-origin population," Saman says. "Our aim is to uncover those who have harmed its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish identity and extremely concerned about the behavior of such persons."

Most of those applying for asylum claim they are escaping political oppression, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a charity that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, experienced challenges for years. He says he had to live on under twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now get approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which offers food, according to official regulations.

"Honestly stating, this is not sufficient to maintain a acceptable lifestyle," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely restricted from employment, he feels many are open to being exploited and are practically "forced to labor in the illegal economy for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the government department said: "We make no apology for denying asylum seekers the right to be employed - doing so would generate an reason for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Asylum cases can require a long time to be resolved with almost a third taking more than one year, according to government statistics from the end of March this year.

Saman states working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been very straightforward to do, but he told us he would not have participated in that.

However, he explains that those he encountered employed in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "confused", especially those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals expended all of their funds to come to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've lost all they had."

Ali acknowledges that these people seemed hopeless.

"If [they] state you're not allowed to be employed - but simultaneously [you]