In the Seventies we put them on a bed of lettuce, covered them with sauce and called it a cocktail. In the Eighties they became common in ethnic dishes from paella to biryani. And in the 1990s Manchester United captain Roy Keane abused the team's posh supporters for eating them in sandwiches.

From prawn cocktail to prawn curry, the small pink crustacean has become one of the most popular elements of British cuisine. But an investigation has revealed the shocking cost of Britain's love affair with prawns. Many of the millions eaten each year arrive as a result of brutal human rights abuses in one of the poorest nations in the world.

Environmentalists and human rights groups claim that in Bangladesh the cultivation of prawns is associated with rampant corruption, illegal land occupation and brutal attacks on those resisting the industry's rapid expansion. Now a pressure group, Environmental Justice Foundation, is calling for an embargo of prawns from Bangladesh. It claims that at least 150 people have been killed and thousands injured in clashes linked to prawn production after it was transformed into a major export industry to meet growing international demand.

The foundation claims the prawn-producing regions are controlled by gangs working for entrepreneurs who cultivate prawns for sale to international companies for processing and export. In a report published this week, 'Desert in the Delta', the foundation documents the 'prawn farming goldrush'. Attracted by quick profits, tax breaks and cash incentives, the entrepreneurs have created tension over land ownership and prices and between communities and farmers grappling for their share of the wealth.

Traditional farmers in Bangladesh's coastal regions have seen their land illegally occupied and flooded with saltwater - destroying crops and killing livestock - to make way for prawn production. Resistance has been met with intimidation, violent attacks and even murder.

Zaheda Begum was taking part in a demonstration in Barurabad, Satkira district, against the eviction of villagers to make way for prawn farms, when police opened fire. Begum, leader of the Peasant Women's Association, was shot dead, along with four others, including two children. A hundred other demonstrators were wounded in the attack, the culmination of a campaign of intimidation and violence by criminal gangs and police acting on behalf of prawn farmers. Abdur Rob Howladar and his son, Istiak Hasan Shohag, 16, suffered serious injuries when set on by thugs attempting to occupy the family's land in the Rampal region for prawn production. They broke Abdur's right arm and cut his face open. He is now blind in one eye. His son suffered head injuries and is still traumatised by the attack. Abdur claims the police are reluctant to pursue the case as one of the attackers is connected with the ruling government party.

Campaigners claim the abuses have been fuelled by a lack of regulation -- only 1,500 of an estimated 13,000 prawn farms are registered -- and poor enforcement and abuse of laws governing the acquisition of land for aquaculture. The authorities are reported frequently to be complicit in the violations.

Bangladesh is the world's fifth-largest producer of farmed prawns, exporting £210 million worth in 2000, providing an estimated 6.5 million kilos to the UK annually, about a tenth of all prawns eaten in Britain. Globally, the prawn trade is thought to be worth nearly £6 billion a year.
The Bangladeshi government has helped establish processing plants to prepare prawns for export. While these are subject to inspections by European Union officials, environmentalists say a lack of independent monitoring of farms or of any certification system allows exporting companies to source prawns unaccountably.

Kushi Kabir, of Nijera Kori, a non-governmental organisation representing landless people, told The Observer : 'No one is seriously looking at what is going on. There is too much money involved to look too closely.' Nijera Kori staff have been attacked and intimidated by thugs working on behalf the prawn industry. The group claims that women have suffered particular abuse at the hands of prawn farmers and that rapes have been reported in some regions.
Steve Trent, director of the foundation, said: 'Until there is total reform of the prawn industry it is unacceptable for any Western seafood company to be doing business there.'

The Observer has established the bulk supply of Bangladeshi prawns into the UK is dominated by a handful of major companies.
Manchester-based Seamark Group, owned and managed by Iqbal Ahmed, imports thousands of kilos of prawns and other seafood from Bangladesh for sale to the UK, Europe and the United States. Annual sales of its key brands, including Mr Prawn, Lilly, Classic and Tiger, topped £40m in recent years.
Seamark prawns -- some endorsed by celebrity super-chef, Ken Hom -- are widely available in Britain's independent retailers and specialist food stores. A spokeswoman for Ken Hom's Yellow River restaurant chain said: 'As an ethical and responsible business, we have launched a full inquiry with a view to immediately dissociating ourselves from the "chain" that has led to such injustices in Bangladesh.'

M&J Seafood, owned by the Brakes Group, supplies frozen seafood direct to more than 12,000 restaurants, pubs, hotels, brewery groups and others in the catering trade. Bangladeshi prawns are being imported independently for sale at the country's top seafood markets, including Billingsgate in London, where many of the country's leading restaurants and chefs buy their seafood.

Alec Dodgeon, spokesman for Seamark, said: 'The company does not deal with the aquaculture side of prawn production in Bangladesh. We buy prawns from independent packers or dealers, who are themselves separate from [the prawn producers]. The claims of rampant human rights abuses are entirely new to us.'
A spokesman for Brakes said: 'We are committed to ethical and environmental best practice in all our activities. When procuring from outside the EU, Brakes will only use facilities that are of the equivalent standard of EU-approved facilities and would never knowingly accept food products from suppliers who exploit the people or natural resources of their environment.'
 

Britain is facing a £25 million claim for compensation from tribes in Papua New Guinea who claim the government has backed a project that destroyed their ancestral lands, poisoned their water and made them ill. Lawyers acting for indigenous communities of the south-east Asian island have written to Development Secretary Hilary Benn outlining their claim. They have detailed a catalogue of destruction allegedly caused by a 10,000-hectare oil palm plantation in Oro province, near their northern coast .

The UK Department for International Development is the major shareholder in a company called Higaturu Oil Palms, the firm that runs the controversial plantation. It has put £4m of British taxpayers' money into the company through the government-owned CDC Group, which invests aid money in projects it believes will benefit developing countries.

The tribes claim Higaturu has used toxic chemicals to grow and process oil palms and that these have polluted the sole source of water for thousands of villages. Lawyers also claim the company has dug up ancestral graveyards and destroyed the sole habitat of the world's largest butterfly, Queen Alexandra's birdwing.

The letter was sent to Benn by Damien Ase, executive director of Celcor, the Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights in Papua New Guinea. He has demanded the minister takes immediate action to halt the damage to the land and environment and 'fully compensate the local landowners'.

Ase alleges that Higaturu illegally acquired the land from the tribes and caused damage by destroying rainforests and polluting rivers. The plantation began operating 26 years ago. Andrew Mamoko, chairman of the Ahora pressure group, which represents the local tribes, said: 'Now we are landless, and are just another lot of hopeless, lifeless people grieving over our land while others reap goodness out of it and enjoy it.'

Oil from the palm trees provides a valuable harvest for developing countries, which export it for use as a vegetable oil in food or for cosmetics. The problem is that rainforest has to be cleared and chemicals used. Friends of the Earth, which is backing the claim, has collected testimony on videotape from tribespeople who have suffered. Theresa Stanley, who represents the women of the community, claims that children have been born with deformities and died as a result of the polluted waters.

Chief Neville Ondopai of the Ahora Village said: 'All the people in these villages, they drink the water and they are dying. How can they exploit us so much?'

Lawyers claim that toxic waste was dumped directly into the Ambogo river, which is used by thousands of villagers. CDC, which is wholly owned by the British government, has its funds managed by private equity group Actis. A spokesman for Actis said: 'We take these sorts of allegations very seriously and are committed to working with the management of Higaturu to ensure improvement in the environmental management of its palm oil plantations.'

In a detailed statement, Actis rejected many of the claims of the tribes. It said: 'Higaturu has systems in place designed to ensure that its discharges into the river do not create health or environmental damage and we do not believe that Higaturu's activities are responsible for the health problems facing the local community.'