Crime community behind UK mini-marts is enabling migrants to work illegally

A Kurdish crime community is enabling migrants to work illegally in mini-marts on High Streets the size of Britain, a BBC investigation can reveal.

The pretend firm administrators are paid to place their names to official paperwork, and have dozens of companies listed on Companies House, however aren’t concerned in operating them.

Two undercover reporters, themselves Kurdish, posed as asylum seekers and have been advised how simple it might be for them to take over and run a store and make huge income promoting unlawful vapes and cigarettes.

We have linked greater than 100 mini-marts, barbershops and automotive washes, working from Dundee to south Devon, to the crime community. But a monetary crime investigator advised the BBC he believes it goes a lot wider.

Reacting to our investigation, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, mentioned: “Illegal working and linked organised criminality creates an incentive for people to come here illegally. We will not stand for it.”

For the primary time, we will reveal the interior workings of a prison system that lets asylum seekers work in plain sight on UK High Streets, in mini-marts that primarily revenue from unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

One man advised us weekly takings from illicit tobacco at his store may very well be “sometimes, up to £3,000”.

The males who facilitate all of it – so-called “ghost directors” – every have dozens of companies listed on Companies House however in lots of circumstances aren’t concerned in operating them.

“The shop doesn’t belong to me, it’s just under my name,” certainly one of them advised our undercover reporters.

Many of the companies are dissolved after a couple of 12 months, after which re-opened with small modifications to official paperwork.

These companies have “all the red flags” related to organised criminality, a monetary crime investigator advised the BBC.

During our investigation we discovered:

• An asylum seeker, who says his declare was rejected, attempting to promote a store to our undercover reporter for £18,000
• A Kurdish Facebook group itemizing dozens of mini-marts, barbers, automotive washes and takeaways on the market
• “Ghost directors” charging unlawful staff as much as £300 monthly to register mini-marts of their names
• Kurdish builders providing to construct elaborate hiding areas for unlawful cigarettes and vapes that will idiot sniffer canine
• Asylum seekers, who mentioned the Home Office had left them in authorized limbo, working 14-hour shifts in mini-marts for as little as £4 per hour

The two Kurdish journalists concerned in our investigation know that tensions over immigration are excessive. They fear that such protection of unlawful actions throughout the Kurdish neighborhood might inflame hostilities.

One of them is a former asylum seeker himself, and says “I wanted to play a role in uncovering these illegal activities […] to say loudly that they don’t represent us.”

Over 4 months, we monitored a Kurdish Facebook group the place companies throughout the UK have been listed on the market.

New adverts popped up each week.

The reporters obtained in contact with three individuals who listed mini-marts on the market in Crewe, Hull and Liverpool. They mentioned they have been occupied with operating a mini-mart and buying and selling unlawful cigarettes.

In Cheshire, the person operating a Crewe mini-mart known as Top Store mentioned he would promote his store to 1 reporter for £18,000 money.

The shopkeeper, who glided by the title Surchi, assured our journalist that “you don’t need anything” to personal and run a mini-mart as an asylum seeker.

Surchi advised us he was himself a Kurdish asylum seeker who had arrived within the UK in 2022, however whose declare had been refused.

When the BBC later confronted him, he advised us he had paperwork proving his proper to work. We requested if he might present us these paperwork, however he hasn’t supplied them.

Asylum seekers usually do not need the best to work within the UK whereas their declare is being processed. Permission to work is simply granted in restricted circumstances and is topic to strict situations.

If asylum seekers are granted permission to work, they will solely apply for eligible jobs on the Immigration Salary List.

These don’t embrace being a store supervisor or store assistant.

Like our undercover reporters, Surchi advised us he was from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, an space that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria and Armenia. The area is sometimes called Kurdistan, however it’s not an unbiased nation.

To keep away from scrutiny by the authorities, Surchi mentioned he paid somebody known as “Hadi” about £250 a month to be named on official papers.

“That’s his job and he probably has 40 to 50 shops under his name. There’s no problem, he doesn’t mind what you sell,” he defined.

This association let Surchi go beneath the radar of immigration enforcement and promote no matter he favored. He mentioned he had by no means paid any council tax and that our undercover reporter wouldn’t have to formally register the corporate.

Immigration enforcement officers had solely come by as soon as up to now 5 years, when he was out, Surchi mentioned throughout his gross sales patter. They by no means returned, he mentioned.

Trading Standards had raided the store as soon as, Surchi mentioned, and he had been given a £200 nice for promoting unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

Shop house owners within the UK caught promoting these things could be fined as much as £10,000, however the income that may be made out of such merchandise far outweigh the penalties.

During a tour of the premises, Surchi took us exterior to a so-called “stash car” the place he mentioned he hid the majority of his inventory till 17:00 every night time, when Trading Standards officers completed for the day.

He additionally advised our reporter that “you could make a hiding spot” for the inventory within the store’s basement – the place he additionally confirmed how he tampered with the electrical energy meter to keep away from paying utility payments.

Surchi bought vapes to a gaggle of youngsters whereas we have been on the store. “I have customers that are 12 years old, I don’t have any problem with them,” he mentioned.

Customers paid by way of a card machine right into a checking account, he defined. Both of those belonged to his cousin, he mentioned, who owned a mini-mart 15 miles away in Stoke.

On Facebook, we found Kurdish builders keen to assist us conceal unlawful vapes and cigarettes.

One of our reporters posted that he had purchased a mini-mart in Manchester and was in search of “a specialist to build a space to hide cigarettes in the shop”.

Six builders obtained in contact. One despatched us a video of what seemed like a merchandising machine for unlawful cigarettes hidden in a loft, which, on the press of a button, pinged packets down a chute to a hid vent under.

It was “fine craftsmanship” and value £6,000, the builder mentioned, claiming it was assured to idiot Trading Standards’ sniffer canine.

As we delved deeper into who formally owned these mini-marts, a community of ghost administrators started to emerge.

One title that saved developing was Hadi Ahmad Ali – the Birmingham man to whom Surchi advised us he was paying his month-to-month price. We discovered Mr Ahmad Ali listed on Companies House as being from Iraq, in his 40s and a director of greater than 50 different companies – mini-marts, barbers and automotive washes.

One of our reporters phoned him pretending to be an asylum seeker trying to purchase the Crewe enterprise to promote unlawful cigarettes. Mr Ahmad Ali mentioned the store did not belong to him however the lease was beneath his title. He confirmed he might maintain it in his title for our undercover reporter, for a price of between £250 and £300 a month.

He additionally mentioned he might attempt to present a financial institution card for the store.

“I will give you a 50% guarantee that I can get you a bank card. I have another six to seven shops under my name in Hull and other places.”

Mr Ahmad Ali remains to be listed as an lively director on a number of companies on Companies House. We later realized that in October 2024 he had been disqualified from being an organization officer for 5 years.

The ban adopted unlawful cigarette gross sales at a store in his title in Chorley, Lancashire – together with to a 16-year-old.

Separately, he pleaded responsible to his involvement within the sale of unlawful cigarettes in Lincolnshire and was sentenced to 6 months in jail, suspended for 18 months.

When later confronted by the BBC, Mr Ahmad Ali advised us these mini-marts have been nothing to do with him, and he had contacted Companies House to get his title faraway from the companies.

A spokesperson for Companies House mentioned it “now has greater powers to share information and support law enforcement investigations”.

“Where criminality is suspected, information and intelligence are shared with relevant partners.”

Our analysis linked Mr Ahmad Ali to a different man, Ismael Ahmedi Farzanda, who we discovered was a ghost director and answerable for 25 mini-marts.

Mr Farzanda’s title got here up as a result of Companies House filings confirmed he had taken over as firm director from Mr Ahmad Ali at seven mini-mart companies. The pair additionally shared a co-directorship on one store in Blackpool.

One of our reporters managed to name Mr Farzanda, utilizing the identical cowl story as he had advised Mr Ahmad Ali.

“I just put the shops under my name for people,” mentioned Mr Farzanda who, like Mr Ahmad Ali, was based mostly within the West Midlands. He advised us an “accountant” would maintain the paperwork, financial institution accounts and funds to him, and that he would haven’t any downside with us promoting unlawful cigarettes.

The solely request he had was that if the undercover reporter was ever caught by the police, he ought to let him know instantly.

“If you know you’re caught, tell us so that for the interviews we can change the name and not get in trouble,” he advised our reporter.

Mr Farzanda was fined £4,500 in August after one store, registered in his title in Haslingden, Lancashire, was caught promoting unlawful vapes to a 14-year-old, in response to native media studies.

Seventeen retailers registered beneath the names of Mr Ahmad Ali and Mr Farzanda have been raided since 2021 with unlawful tobacco and vapes seized, Trading Standards sources confirmed.

Despite being registered on official paperwork as being from Iran, Mr Farzanda advised our undercover reporter he was truly from the Sharazoor district in neighbouring Iraq.

Both our undercover reporters say they’re conscious of Kurdish individuals who have arrived within the UK on small boats and pretended to be Iranian, believing their asylum claims would have a greater probability of success.

When later introduced with our proof, Mr Farzanda denied all of the allegations put to him by the BBC.

When we seemed into the official data connected to all the businesses listed for Mr Ahmad Ali and Mr Farzanda, a suspicious sample emerged.

We discovered corporations could be arrange for a 12 months, dissolved, after which arrange once more – every time with a barely completely different spelling of the companies’ names. The males’s names and birthdays would even be modified barely.

“Why are they doing that? It’s most likely to evade tax and to dodge scrutiny by authorities,” mentioned monetary crime investigator Graham Barrow, once we confirmed him our information.

We have additionally confirmed particulars of two additional ghost administrators – with 40 corporations listed between them.

This UK-wide community of greater than 100 firm directorships within the names of simply 4 people has “all the red flags that I would associate with organised criminal networks”, mentioned Mr Barrow.

The community of companies recognized by the BBC might stretch even wider throughout the nation, mentioned Mr Barrow: “I certainly think it’s hundreds. It could easily be bigger than that,” he mentioned.

We visited greater than a dozen mini-marts linked to this community of ghost administrators.

Everywhere we went, it was the identical story – the retailers have been on rundown High Streets in a few of the UK’s most disadvantaged areas, resembling Blackpool, Bradford, Huddersfield and Hull.

All however one of many retailers bought counterfeit or smuggled cigarettes for about £4 per pack, as a substitute of the typical UK value of £16 for a pack of 20.

As nicely as Surchi’s story in Crewe, our investigation revealed particulars of different Kurdish asylum seekers being employed illegally.

A mini-mart employee in a Blackpool store linked to one of many ghost administrators advised us he had left an asylum-seeker resort in Liverpool to work 14-hour days on the store. “In return I get £60 to £65 [per day],” he advised us. “For three months, I worked for £50 [per day].”

He was interviewed by the Home Office 4 months in the past, he mentioned, however hasn’t heard something since. The store had been raided by Trading Standards thrice, he advised us – however he described that as “nothing”.

“Just give them any name and they will walk away,” he defined, saying that each time he was requested who he was, he would give the title of a well-known Kurdish singer, Aziz Waisi.

He did say he was anxious by immigration enforcement, nonetheless. “They [Trading Standards] take the cigarettes and leave, but immigration makes you do fingerprints.”

We additionally discovered one other Kurdish shopworker in a Salford store registered beneath Ismaeel Farzanda’s title, who mentioned he was in limbo. “I’ve been here for six months and I still haven’t claimed asylum,” he mentioned.

The 42-year-old mentioned he had first come to the UK as a teen, earlier than returning to Kurdistan.

He mentioned he returned to the UK this 12 months and “they found my previous fingerprint records but nothing came of it”. He mentioned he was staying with pals.

“Honestly, we’re all struggling here and don’t know what to do.”

The authorities says it has elevated raids by 51% and this 12 months raised the fines for companies to £60,000 per individual discovered working illegally.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood added that the federal government has “seized millions of pounds worth of unlicensed goods, banned dodgy directors and removed more than 35,000 people with no right to be in the UK.”

Additional reporting by Phill Edwards and Kirstie Brewer