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Two individuals have been detained as an element of an inquiry into the dumping of thousands of tons of rubbish in a field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Officials stated that a man in his late sixties was arrested at a property in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was arrested in Slough, Berkshire in association with the enormous pile of rubbish deposited near the area of Kidlington.

These apprehensions come after a previous revelation which uncovered the operation of more than 500 illegal sites throughout England, encompassing at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" bigger than 20,000 tonnes.

A official for the environment authorities said that the arrests were for environment-related and money laundering violations and were a "vital step" in continuing investigations. The apprehended men have been let go on conditional release.

Scale of the Issue

The illegal site in near Kidlington, positioned between the River Cherwell and the A34 highway, is believed to contain approximately 21,000 tonnes of rubbish in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) tall.

This mound of waste is made up of what looks to be treated household rubbish, chopped up plastic materials, Styrofoam, tyres and other domestic items.

It is just a single of 517 illegal tips across England, at least 11 of which contain in excess of 20,000 tons of garbage. They encompass a 280,000-tonne location in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in Kent.

The actual number of such larger sites is probably to be greater, as the environment authority has earlier stated it does not hold information on weight for each unauthorized site.

Most sites are in agricultural settings, frequently concealed, and on land that is zoned as arable land.

Organized Enterprise

Law enforcement state many are managed by organized crime groups, who are making profit by charging far less than legitimate firms to take and bury garbage.

Companies have to be liable for disposal fees to use legitimate landfill sites, based on the amount and nature of material they are trying to get rid of, and landfill tax is also levied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Local Frustration

Preparation work to clean up the Kidlington location started earlier this month due to concerns over the risk of combustion and the effect that would have on the nearby major road.

A contracted clean-up firm has been granted the contract to deal with the site over the following 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An enforcement manager for the national regulatory team said that the body would be looking to claim back the remediation funds under asset recovery acts from any individual ultimately found guilty at the conclusion of its current inquiry.

She noted that these apprehensions would help "drive the investigation forward" and enable authorities to "investigate more lines of inquiry to ascertain precisely what transpired and who was implicated".

"This unlawful tip at this location was an atrocious and deliberate affront on our ecology and the authorities understand the community's frustration at this terrible crime," she remarked.

A cabinet minister praised the detentions, stating: "This unlawful tipping of waste at this location is utterly appalling and has caused considerable harm to the natural world and upset to the nearby population.

"The administration is dedicated to stamping out this type of criminality across the country, by augmenting funds to tackle environmental crime, employing more personnel and enacting tougher checks and fines for those who flout the rules."

The apprehensions were carried out on Thursday by officers from a regional organised crime unit and come after an prior apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Guildford region in the autumn. He was let go pending further investigations.