Why We Chose to Go Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals agreed to go undercover to expose a network behind unlawful main street enterprises because the criminals are damaging the reputation of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they say.

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

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was operating mini-marts, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services across the United Kingdom, and sought to discover more about how it operated and who was participating.

Armed with secret recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no permission to be employed, seeking to buy and operate a convenience store from which to sell illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how simple it is for a person in these conditions to start and manage a business on the main street in plain sight. Those participating, we learned, pay Kurds who have UK citizenship to register the enterprises in their identities, assisting to deceive the authorities.

Saman and Ali also were able to secretly record one of those at the heart of the network, who stated that he could remove official fines of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those employing unauthorized employees.

"Personally wanted to participate in exposing these unlawful operations [...] to declare that they don't represent us," says Saman, a ex- asylum seeker himself. Saman came to the UK illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that covers the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his well-being was at threat.

The journalists admit that disagreements over unauthorized migration are high in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been concerned that the probe could inflame tensions.

But the other reporter states that the illegal employment "harms the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he considers compelled to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, Ali mentions he was worried the publication could be seized upon by the extreme right.

He states this particularly struck him when he discovered that far-right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march was happening in London on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Placards and flags could be spotted at the gathering, showing "we want our nation back".

The reporters have both been monitoring online feedback to the exposé from inside the Kurdish population and explain it has caused significant outrage for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they found said: "In what way can we locate and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

Another called for their families in Kurdistan to be attacked.

They have also encountered claims that they were spies for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter says. "Our aim is to reveal those who have damaged its standing. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin identity and profoundly concerned about the behavior of such individuals."

Most of those seeking refugee status say they are fleeing political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our covert journalist Saman, who, when he first arrived to the UK, struggled for many years. He says he had to live on under £20 a week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now receive about forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers food, according to government regulations.

"Practically speaking, this is not enough to support a respectable existence," says the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are largely prevented from working, he feels numerous are susceptible to being manipulated and are effectively "compelled to work in the unofficial market for as low as £3 per hour".

A official for the Home Office said: "We do not apologize for not granting refugee applicants the permission to work - granting this would generate an incentive for individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum applications can require a long time to be processed with nearly a 33% requiring more than 12 months, according to official figures from the spring this year.

Saman states being employed without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely straightforward to do, but he informed the team he would not have done that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he met working in unauthorized convenience stores during his investigation seemed "confused", particularly those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended all of their savings to come to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've lost everything."

Ali acknowledges that these people seemed in dire straits.

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