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Two individuals have been arrested as part of an probe into the dumping of thousands of tonnes of waste in a rural field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Law enforcement reported that a 69-year-old was detained at a property in the town of Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in Slough in connection with the huge mound of rubbish dumped near the area of Kidlington.

These apprehensions occur a week after a previous report which uncovered the presence of in excess of 500 illegal dumps throughout the country of England, encompassing at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" larger than 20,000 tonnes.

A official for the environment authorities said that the apprehensions were for environmental and proceeds of crime violations and constituted a "key step" in ongoing investigations. Both men have been set free on conditional release.

Scale of the Situation

The dump in near Kidlington, situated between the Cherwell River and the A34, is thought to contain approximately 21,000 metric tons of refuse in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) lengthwise and 6m (20ft) in height.

This heap of garbage is made up of what seems to be processed residential rubbish, fragmented plastics, expanded polystyrene, tires and other domestic items.

It represents just one of 517 unlawful tips across England, at a minimum of 11 of which contain in excess of 20,000 tonnes of garbage. These include a 280,000-tonne location in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in the county of Kent.

The actual figure of such major locations is expected to be larger, as the environment body has earlier stated it does not maintain information on volume for all unlawful tip.

Most sites are in rural locations, typically out of sight, and on land that is zoned as arable land.

Organised Enterprise

Law enforcement say a significant number are managed by organized crime groups, who are earning cash by asking for much less than licensed firms to accept and bury garbage.

Companies have to pay gate fees to use legitimate landfill sites, depending on the quantity and nature of waste they are trying to get rid of, and landfill tax is also levied at just over £126 per ton.

Public Outrage

Preparation operations to clean up the affected location began recently due to fears over the potential of fire and the effect that would have on the close-by highway.

A commercial waste clearance company has been given the task to handle the site over the following 12 months period at a price of £9.6m.

An enforcement official for the country's environmental crime team said that the agency would be aiming to claim back the remediation expenses under confiscation acts from any party found guilty at the conclusion of its current case.

She noted that the recent arrests would help "move the probe forward" and allow authorities to "pursue more lines of inquiry to determine precisely what occurred and who was implicated".

"This illegal dump at this location was an atrocious and calculated affront on our environment and officials share the community's outrage at this egregious crime," she remarked.

A government official supported the actions, adding: "This unauthorized deposit of waste at the site is disgraceful and has caused significant harm to the natural world and distress to the surrounding population.

"The government is pledged to eradicating this type of criminality across the UK, by augmenting resources to tackle illegal dumping, employing more staff and implementing tougher measures and fines for those who break the rules."

The detentions were executed on the specified day by agents from a regional serious crime squad and follow an previous arrest of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area region in last November. He was set free pending further inquiries.