Why We Chose to Go Covert to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish individuals consented to operate secretly to reveal a operation behind unlawful main street enterprises because the criminals are damaging the standing of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they state.

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

The team found that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was running small shops, hair salons and car washes throughout the UK, and sought to find out more about how it worked and who was taking part.

Prepared with hidden cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no authorization to work, attempting to buy and manage a small shop from which to trade unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to discover how easy it is for an individual in these conditions to establish and manage a commercial operation on the High Street in plain sight. The individuals involved, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the operations in their identities, helping to deceive the authorities.

Saman and Ali also were able to covertly document one of those at the core of the network, who asserted that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to £60k faced those employing illegal laborers.

"I aimed to contribute in revealing these illegal activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't represent our community," explains Saman, a ex- asylum seeker himself. The reporter came to the United Kingdom without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his well-being was at risk.

The reporters recognize that disagreements over illegal immigration are elevated in the United Kingdom and state they have both been worried that the probe could inflame hostilities.

But Ali says that the illegal labor "negatively affects the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he considers driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, the journalist mentions he was concerned the coverage could be used by the radical right.

He explains this particularly impressed him when he discovered that radical right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working covertly. Banners and flags could be seen at the protest, showing "we want our nation returned".

The reporters have both been observing online response to the investigation from inside the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has generated strong outrage for certain individuals. One Facebook message they spotted said: "How can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

Another demanded their relatives in Kurdistan to be attacked.

They have also encountered allegations that they were agents for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish-origin population," Saman says. "Our goal is to expose those who have compromised its image. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and profoundly concerned about the actions of such persons."

The majority of those seeking asylum state they are escaping political persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he first came to the UK, struggled for many years. He explains he had to live on less than twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was processed.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which offers meals, according to government policies.

"Realistically speaking, this is not enough to maintain a dignified life," states Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are generally prohibited from working, he feels many are susceptible to being manipulated and are practically "obligated to work in the black market for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A official for the government department stated: "We make no apology for not granting refugee applicants the right to work - doing so would create an motivation for individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum cases can take years to be decided with almost a 33% taking over a year, according to official data from the end of March this current year.

The reporter says being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been very straightforward to accomplish, but he explained to us he would not have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he met laboring in illegal mini-marts during his work seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"They expended their entire funds to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum rejected and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

Ali acknowledges that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"When [they] declare you're not allowed to be employed - but also [you]