The crime network operating more than 100 mini-marts, car washes and barbers

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page An underground Kurdish crime network is helping migrants work illegally in high street shops across Britain. More than 100 mini-marts, barbershops and car washes were found by a BBC investigation to be linked to organised crime. Fake company directors are being paid to put their names on official paperwork but are not involved in running them. Asylum seekers were found to be working 14-hour shifts in these shops for just £4 per hour. The crime syndicate was uncovered when two Kurdish journalists posed as asylum seekers. They were told how easy it would be for them to run a shop selling illegal vapes and cigarettes. One man told the BBC that he could make up to £3,000 per week selling the products. The shops sold illegal vapes and cigarettes (Picture: Matt Cardy/Getty Images) ‘Ghost directors’ have dozens of businesses listed on Companies House. One of them told a reporter: ‘The shop doesn’t belong to me, it’s just under my name.’ Many of these high street shops are liquidated after around a year – then re-opened with different paperwork. During the investigation, an asylum seeker – who said his claim was rejected – tried to sell a shop to an undercover BBC reporter for £18,000. The shopkeeper, Surchi, who owned Top Store in Crewe, Cheshire, said he paid someone called ‘Hadi’ around £250 to be named on business papers. More than 100 mini-marts, barbershops and car washes were found to be linked to the crime network (Picture: BBC) He told the reporter: ‘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.’ Surchi said Trading Standards had raided the shop once for selling illegal cigarettes and vapes. He was handed a £200 fine. Some of his customers are as young as 12 years old. When confronted by reporters, Surchi denied the BBC’s findings. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page The broadcaster’s investigation found a Kurdish Facebook group listing dozens of high street shops for sale – and Kurdish builders offering to create secret spaces to hide illegal vapes and cigarettes. It also found a network of ghost directors, with one name surfacing most often. Hadi Ahmad Ali, the Birmingham man whom Surchi said he was paying, was listed on Companies House as an Iraqi in his 40s who was the director of 50 other businesses. But in October last year, he was disqualified from being a company officer for five years after a shop in his name in Chorley, Lancashire, sold illegal cigarettes to a 16-year-old. Separately, he pleaded guilty to being involved in the sale of illegal cigarettes in Lincolnshire. He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months. Mr Ahmad Ali said he had nothing to do with these shops when confronted by reporters. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said ‘those found to be illegally working will be arrested, detained and removed’ (Picture: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images) Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘Illegal working and linked organised criminality undercuts honest business and creates an incentive for people to come here illegally. We will not stand for it. ‘This Government has already surged enforcement action to its highest levels in British history, with a 51% rise in raids, 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. ‘I will do whatever it takes to secure Britain’s borders. Those found to be illegally working will be arrested, detained and removed.’ The Home Office said it will investigate the BBC’s report. The Government said that more than 8,000 illegal workers have been arrested in the past year, and 11,000 raids have been carried out by Immigration Enforcement. More than 1,050 foreign nationals involved in these operations have been deported, according to the Home Office. Any business found hiring illegal workers faces fines of up to £60,000 per worker, up to five years in prison and their business being shut down. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.