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A pair of individuals have been arrested as a component of an investigation into the tipping of thousands of tons of refuse in a field in Oxfordshire.

Officials stated that a 69-year-old was detained at a property in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was detained in the town of Slough in relation with the huge pile of rubbish deposited near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These arrests occur a week after a prior investigation which revealed the existence of more than 500 unlawful sites across the country of England, including at minimum 11 so-called "super sites" bigger than 20,000 tonnes.

A spokeswoman for the environmental body said that the detentions were for ecological and financial crimes and constituted a "vital step" in ongoing probes. The two individuals have been released on conditional release.

Magnitude of the Problem

The tipping ground in Kidlington, located between the river Cherwell and the A34 highway, is thought to house approximately 21,000 metric tons of waste in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) lengthwise and 6m (20ft) in height.

This pile of rubbish is made up of what appears to be processed residential rubbish, fragmented plastic items, Styrofoam, tires and other everyday objects.

It is just a single of 517 illegal dumps in England, at minimum 11 of which are estimated to hold over 20,000 metric tons of rubbish. These include a 280,000-tonne area in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire county and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in the county of Kent.

The total amount of such major locations is likely to be higher, as the environment authority has in the past acknowledged it does not maintain information on volume for every unlawful dump.

The majority sites are in rural settings, typically out of sight, and on land that is intended to be arable property.

Organized Activity

Law enforcement state a significant number are managed by organised crime gangs, who are generating cash by demanding significantly less than lawful companies to take and landfill waste.

Firms have to pay disposal fees to use licensed landfill sites, contingent on the volume and category of material they are trying to discard, and a waste tax is also levied at just over £126 per ton.

Local Outrage

Preparation efforts to clean up the Kidlington area location began in recent weeks following worries over the risk of combustion and the consequences that would have on the adjacent A-road.

A commercial clean-up company has been given the contract to remediate the site over the coming 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An investigations official for the government environment division stated that the agency would be aiming to recover the remediation costs under confiscation laws from anyone ultimately prosecuted at the end of its active inquiry.

She added that these arrests would help "drive the inquiry forward" and permit officials to "investigate more lines of inquiry to understand exactly what transpired and who was implicated".

"The unlawful tip at Kidlington was an shocking and deliberate affront on our natural surroundings and we understand the local anger at this egregious act," she said.

A senior representative welcomed the arrests, stating: "This unlawful deposit of rubbish at this location is utterly appalling and has caused considerable detriment to the environment and distress to the surrounding community.

"The authorities is pledged to eradicating this type of crime across the UK, by boosting resources to tackle illegal dumping, recruiting more personnel and introducing tougher checks and penalties for those who violate the regulations."

The arrests were made on Thursday by personnel from a specialist crime unit and follow an earlier detention of a man in his thirties from the Guildford area in November. He was released awaiting further investigations.