A Kurdish criminal network is enabling migrants to work in mini-marts across the UK – despite having no legal right to employment in Britain.
The syndicate was uncovered in an undercover that saw reporters pose as asylum seekers keen to purchase a shop that they could operate off the books – in exchange for a monthly fee paid to ‘ghost directors’.
These individuals take on the shops in their name but play no part in the running of the businesses – and claim to face little scrutiny, with dozens of stores to their name on Companies House.
The stores are then run by asylum seekers whose names are nowhere near the business and have no right to work in the UK.
Many of them sell illegal cigarettes and vapes, including to children, seemingly without fear of being discovered.
They also employ others on pitiful wages as low as £4 an hour.
BBC News‘ investigation found the operation spans the length of the UK and is linked to more than 100 mini-marts, barbers and car washes.
A financial crime investigator has suggested its scale could be even greater.
The shady businesses often operate for around 12 months before dissolving and re-opening, often with slight changes to paperwork.
Kurdish shop worker Surchi told undercover journalists that his asylum claim was rejected
He runs Top Store in Crewe, one of hundreds of businesses in the crime network alleged to be enabling migrants to work illegally
One reporter found a shop worker called Surchi, who sought asylum in the UK after arriving in 2022. He was refused but remains in the UK.
Surchi was operating a mini-mart in Crewe and told the undercover journalist he could sell the business for £18,000 in cash without using an accountant.
Secret camera footage also showed him telling the reporters how he could avoid paying for electricity bills – by using a trick to stop the meter from working.
The Kurdish migrant said he paid another man £250 a month to have his name on the business documents.
He told the reporters he had never paid council tax and had not registered the company.
He also admitted that he had regular customers as young as 12 buying tobacco and vapes.
The shop worker also told them how he kept the bulk of his stock in an untaxed car to conceal it from Trading Standards officers during the day.
His shop was raided once for selling illegal cigarettes and vapes and he was forced to pay a £200 fine.
When later confronted by an identified BBC reporter, he claimed he had the right to work – but did not show it to the journalist.
Surchi told undercover reporters that he was looking to sell the business for £18,000
Those behind the plot appeared to use a Kurdish Facebook group to offer the stores to migrants.
Kurdish builders also offered to build elaborate hiding places to stash illegal vapes and cigarettes.
Some migrants then employed to work in the stores were working for as little as £4 an hour.
The BBC says it linked two men, Hadi Ahmad Ali and Ismaeel Farzanda, to some 70 businesses.
Mr Ahmad Ali claimed the stores were nothing to do with him when confronted, while Mr Farzanda said: ‘I just put the shops under my name for people.’
Stores run by both men have been the subject of raids with illegal tobacco and vapes seized, the BBC reported.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said of the probe: ‘Illegal working and linked organised criminality creates an incentive for people to come here illegally. We will not stand for it.’
It comes amid the growing popularity of Turkish-style barber shops allegedly being used by drug gangs to launder money.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has overseen dozens of raids on stores earlier this year, making a series of arrests and seizing tens of thousands of pounds in the process.
Officials said the operation had been prompted by an increase in intelligence reports linking barber shops to money laundering and other criminality. More than 750 opened in the UK last year.
Officers at the NCA joined forces with local police forces, immigration enforcement officers and HM Revenue and Customs inspectors to carry out raids in towns and cities across Britain.
The Kursish migrant also admitted to selling illegal vapes to children as young as 12 years old
One method of ascertaining whether money is being laundered saw tax inspectors monitoring the number of chairs in use at a salon to work out if profits declared by the business corresponded to the number of customers.
One official said that some streets have multiple barbers all declaring large takings despite being empty most days.
More than 750 barber shops opened in the UK last year, according to retail analytics company Green Street. Since 2018 the number has increased by more than 15 per cent to more than 18,000.
Traditional Turkish-style barbers are known for stylish haircuts – usually completed with a hot towel and cut-throat razor.
But the NCA probe points to growing concerns that criminals are infiltrating the trade.