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Two individuals have been taken into custody as a component of an inquiry into the illegal deposit of several thousand of tons of waste in a rural field in Oxfordshire.

Law enforcement indicated that a 69-year-old was detained at a residence in Andover, Hampshire, while a 54-year-old was arrested in Slough in connection with the huge heap of rubbish deposited near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These arrests occur a week after a recent report which revealed the operation of over 500 illegal tips across England, featuring at least 11 so-called "super sites" bigger than 20,000 tonnes.

A official for the regulatory body said that the detentions were for environmental and proceeds of crime crimes and represented a "key step" in active investigations. The apprehended men have been let go on conditional release.

Scale of the Issue

The dump in near Kidlington, situated between the Cherwell River and the A34 highway, is estimated to hold about 21,000 metric tons of waste in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) in height.

This mound of rubbish is made up of what looks to be sorted residential refuse, fragmented plastics, polystyrene, tires and assorted household articles.

It is just one of 517 illegal tips in England, at minimum 11 of which contain over 20,000 metric tons of garbage. Such sites include a 280,000-tonne area in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire county and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne dump in the county of Kent.

The overall number of such major sites is expected to be greater, as the environment body has previously stated it does not maintain records on weight for all illegal tip.

A large proportion of such locations are in rural settings, frequently concealed, and on land that should be arable ground.

Criminal Enterprise

Authorities state many are managed by criminal organizations, who are generating cash by charging far less than licensed firms to receive and landfill garbage.

Firms have to be liable for gate fees to use legitimate waste facilities, contingent on the volume and type of refuse they are trying to discard, and a disposal levy is also applied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Public Outrage

Preparation work to remove the affected site started recently amid fears over the risk of combustion and the consequences that would have on the close-by major road.

A commercial clean-up firm has been given the job to remediate the area over the following 12 months at a cost of £9.6m.

An investigations official for the national environment unit said that the authority would be seeking to recover the clean-up funds under confiscation legislation from anyone ultimately found guilty at the termination of its ongoing case.

She noted that these apprehensions would help "move the inquiry forward" and allow authorities to "follow more avenues to determine in detail what happened and who was a party to it".

"The unauthorized dump at this location was an atrocious and calculated affront on our natural surroundings and we understand the local outrage at this horrific offence," she stated.

A government minister supported the detentions, commenting: "This unlawful deposit of waste at Kidlington is disgraceful and has resulted in significant harm to the environment and upset to the local residents.

"The government is committed to eradicating this kind of crime in the UK, by increasing financing to combat environmental crime, hiring more officers and implementing tougher checks and fines for those who flout the law."

The arrests were carried out on a recent Thursday by officers from a specialist organised crime squad and follow an earlier arrest of a man in his thirties from the Guildford region in last November. He was set free subject to more inquiries.