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Two men have been taken into custody as an element of an investigation into the illegal deposit of several thousand of tonnes of refuse in a rural field in Oxfordshire, England.

Law enforcement indicated that a 69-year-old was arrested at a property in Andover, Hampshire, while a 54-year-old was detained in the town of Slough in connection with the huge heap of waste tipped near Kidlington.

These arrests follow a previous investigation which exposed the operation of in excess of 500 illegal sites across England, encompassing at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" greater than 20,000 metric tons.

A official for the environmental authorities said that the apprehensions were for environment-related and proceeds of crime offences and constituted a "crucial step" in active probes. The two individuals have been set free on conditional release.

Size of the Issue

The dump in near Kidlington, situated between the river Cherwell and the A34, is estimated to hold around 21,000 metric tons of rubbish in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) in height.

This heap of garbage is composed of what appears to be sorted residential refuse, fragmented plastics, Styrofoam, tyres and various everyday articles.

It represents just one of 517 unauthorized dumps across England, at minimum 11 of which contain over 20,000 tons of waste. They encompass a 280,000-tonne site in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall county and a 36,000-tonne dump in the county of Kent.

The actual amount of such bigger dumps is probably to be higher, as the environment body has earlier acknowledged it does not possess information on weight for all unlawful dump.

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

Organised Operations

Law enforcement state a significant number are run by organized crime groups, who are generating money by charging much less than lawful operators to receive and landfill waste.

Firms have to incur disposal fees to use lawful landfill sites, depending on the amount and type of refuse they are trying to discard, and a waste tax is also applied at just over £126 per ton.

Public Frustration

Preparatory efforts to clean up the Kidlington area site started in recent weeks due to worries over the risk of blaze and the effect that would have on the nearby A-road.

A contracted clean-up company has been awarded the job to remediate the location over the following 12 months at a cost of £9.6m.

An enforcement manager for the national environment unit commented that the body would be aiming to claim back the clearance expenses under asset recovery acts from any party convicted at the end of its ongoing investigation.

She noted that this week's detentions would help "push the investigation forward" and allow authorities to "follow more leads to understand precisely what happened and who was implicated".

"The unauthorized dump at the site was an atrocious and deliberate assault on our natural surroundings and the authorities empathize with the community's frustration at this horrific offence," she stated.

A senior representative supported the actions, commenting: "The unauthorized dumping of garbage at Kidlington is disgraceful and has resulted in substantial detriment to the ecology and upset to the local population.

"The government is committed to eradicating this category of crime throughout the nation, by augmenting financing to tackle environmental crime, hiring more personnel and introducing tougher measures and fines for those who break the law."

The apprehensions were made on the specified day by agents from a specialist serious crime unit and are in addition to an prior detention of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area region in November. He was released pending additional inquiries.