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Two individuals have been taken into custody as part of an investigation into the tipping of thousands of tons of rubbish in a open field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Officials indicated that a 69-year-old was detained at a property in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was detained in Slough, Berkshire in relation with the enormous pile of garbage tipped near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These detentions follow a recent revelation which revealed the existence of over 500 illegal dumps in England, encompassing at a minimum of 11 so-called "major sites" larger than 20,000 tons.

A official for the environment authorities stated that the detentions were for ecological and proceeds of crime crimes and constituted a "key step" in active investigations. The two individuals have been released on bail.

Scale of the Issue

The dump in near Kidlington, positioned between the river Cherwell and the A34 road, is thought to house about 21,000 tons of refuse in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) in height.

This pile of rubbish is consists of what seems to be treated household waste, fragmented plastic items, Styrofoam, automobile tires and assorted household objects.

It constitutes just a single of 517 unlawful dumps across England, at a minimum of 11 of which contain over 20,000 tons of rubbish. Such sites feature a 280,000-tonne site in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire county and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in the county of Kent.

The overall figure of such larger sites is probably to be larger, as the regulatory agency has previously acknowledged it does not maintain information on volume for each unlawful dump.

The majority such locations are in agricultural settings, frequently concealed, and on land that should be arable land.

Criminal Operations

Authorities state many are managed by organized crime groups, who are generating profit by asking for significantly less than licensed companies to take and landfill garbage.

Businesses have to pay disposal fees to use licensed waste facilities, depending on the amount and category of material they are trying to get rid of, and a disposal levy is also charged at just over £126 per ton.

Community Frustration

Preparatory operations to clear the Kidlington site commenced earlier this month following fears over the threat of combustion and the impact that would have on the close-by A-road.

A private waste removal company has been awarded the task to remediate the location over the following 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An compliance officer for the country's environmental crime team said that the body would be seeking to recover the clean-up funds under asset recovery legislation from any party ultimately convicted at the conclusion of its ongoing investigation.

She further stated that the recent apprehensions would help "drive the inquiry forward" and enable officials to "pursue more leads to determine precisely what happened and who was involved".

"This unauthorized site at the site was an atrocious and calculated assault on our environment and we understand the local anger at this egregious offence," she remarked.

A government minister welcomed the arrests, commenting: "The illegal dumping of waste at Kidlington is appalling and has caused considerable damage to the natural world and distress to the surrounding population.

"Our government is pledged to eliminating this category of crime across the UK, by boosting resources to address illegal dumping, employing more officers and enacting stricter measures and penalties for those who break the regulations."

The detentions were carried out on Thursday by officers from a specialist organised crime unit and are in addition to an previous apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area in November. He was set free awaiting more enquiries.