News Agency
A pair of Kurdish-background men decided to operate secretly to uncover a network behind unlawful main street enterprises because the lawbreakers are causing harm the reputation of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.
The pair, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish reporters who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for years.
The team found that a Kurdish-linked crime network was operating mini-marts, hair salons and car washes the length of the United Kingdom, and wanted to learn more about how it worked and who was involved.
Prepared with secret cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to work, looking to buy and manage a mini-mart from which to distribute unlawful cigarettes and vapes.
They were successful to discover how straightforward it is for a person in these conditions to set up and manage a enterprise on the commercial area in full view. The individuals participating, we discovered, compensate Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their identities, assisting to deceive the government agencies.
Ali and Saman also managed to secretly film one of those at the core of the network, who claimed that he could erase official sanctions of up to £60k faced those employing illegal workers.
"I wanted to contribute in revealing these illegal practices [...] to declare that they don't characterize our community," states Saman, a ex- asylum seeker personally. Saman entered the UK illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a territory that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his life was at danger.
The investigators acknowledge that conflicts over unauthorized migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the probe could worsen hostilities.
But the other reporter says that the illegal working "damages the whole Kurdish population" and he believes driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".
Furthermore, Ali explains he was anxious the coverage could be exploited by the extreme right.
He states this especially affected him when he realized that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Placards and banners could be spotted at the rally, reading "we demand our country returned".
The reporters have both been tracking online feedback to the exposé from inside the Kurdish community and report it has caused strong frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook message they observed stated: "In what way can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"
A different demanded their families in Kurdistan to be attacked.
They have also encountered claims that they were informants for the UK government, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish community," one reporter explains. "Our objective is to expose those who have damaged its reputation. We are proud of our Kurdish heritage and profoundly worried about the actions of such persons."
The majority of those seeking refugee status say they are escaping politically motivated persecution, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.
This was the situation for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he first came to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He states he had to survive on under twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was considered.
Asylum seekers now receive approximately £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which provides meals, according to official guidance.
"Practically speaking, this is not adequate to maintain a respectable existence," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.
Because asylum seekers are generally prohibited from working, he believes a significant number are susceptible to being manipulated and are effectively "compelled to work in the unofficial market for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".
A official for the government department stated: "We make no apology for denying asylum seekers the authorization to work - granting this would create an motivation for people to come to the UK illegally."
Asylum applications can require multiple years to be processed with almost a one-third taking over a year, according to official statistics from the end of March this year.
The reporter explains being employed illegally in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been extremely straightforward to accomplish, but he told the team he would never have participated in that.
Nevertheless, he says that those he interviewed working in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "confused", notably those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the appeals process.
"They spent all of their funds to migrate to the UK, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost their entire investment."
The other reporter acknowledges that these people seemed hopeless.
"If [they] declare you're not allowed to work - but simultaneously [you]
