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A pair of individuals have been taken into custody as an element of an probe into the dumping of several thousand of tons of waste in a rural field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Officials indicated that a man in his late sixties was apprehended at a property in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in Slough, Berkshire in connection with the enormous mound of waste deposited near Kidlington.

These detentions occur a week after a previous report which revealed the presence of in excess of 500 unauthorized sites throughout England, encompassing at least 11 so-called "super sites" bigger than 20,000 tons.

A representative for the regulatory agency commented that the apprehensions were for environmental and money laundering violations and constituted a "crucial step" in ongoing inquiries. The apprehended men have been set free on conditional release.

Size of the Situation

The illegal site in near Kidlington, located between the River Cherwell and the A34, is believed to contain approximately 21,000 metric tons of rubbish in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) lengthwise and 6m (20ft) high.

This pile of garbage is consists of what appears to be processed domestic refuse, shredded plastic materials, expanded polystyrene, tires and assorted domestic articles.

It represents just a single of 517 unauthorized tips throughout the country, at minimum 11 of which contain more than 20,000 tonnes of garbage. These include a 280,000-tonne area in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne dump in Kent.

The overall amount of such bigger dumps is likely to be greater, as the environment authority has previously indicated it does not hold information on volume for each unauthorized tip.

The majority sites are in rural areas, frequently concealed, and on land that is zoned as farm land.

Organised Enterprise

Authorities state many are operated by criminal organizations, who are making money by charging far less than legitimate operators to receive and bury rubbish.

Companies have to pay site fees to use lawful disposal sites, depending on the amount and category of refuse they are trying to discard, and a waste tax is also charged at just over £126 per metric ton.

Community Outrage

Preparatory efforts to remove the Kidlington dump commenced in recent weeks due to fears over the threat of combustion and the effect that would have on the adjacent highway.

A contracted clean-up contractor has been given the contract to handle the area over the following 12 months at a expense of £9.6m.

An investigations manager for the country's regulatory division commented that the authority would be looking to recover the clean-up costs under proceeds of crime legislation from anyone ultimately prosecuted at the termination of its active inquiry.

She added that the recent apprehensions would help "move the inquiry forward" and allow the agency to "pursue more leads to ascertain precisely what happened and who was implicated".

"This unlawful site at this location was an atrocious and calculated attack on our ecology and the authorities understand the community's outrage at this horrific offence," she stated.

A senior representative praised the arrests, adding: "The unauthorized dumping of rubbish at this location is disgraceful and has caused significant damage to the natural world and anguish to the nearby population.

"Our administration is pledged to stamping out this kind of crime across the nation, by boosting financing to combat illegal dumping, recruiting more officers and enacting stricter controls and fines for those who flout the law."

The arrests were made on the specified day by officers from a regional serious crime team and follow an earlier detention of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area region in November. He was released pending additional inquiries.