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A pair of individuals have been taken into custody as an element of an investigation into the tipping of several thousand of tons of rubbish in a open field in Oxfordshire.

Officials reported that a 69-year-old was arrested at a residence in Andover, Hampshire, while a man in his fifties was arrested in the town of Slough in association with the enormous pile of waste tipped near Kidlington.

These apprehensions occur a week after a prior investigation which revealed the existence of in excess of 500 illegal tips across the country of England, encompassing at a minimum of 11 so-called "super sites" bigger than 20,000 metric tons.

A spokeswoman for the environmental authorities commented that the apprehensions were for environmental and proceeds of crime crimes and constituted a "key step" in ongoing probes. Both men have been let go on bail.

Magnitude of the Situation

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

This pile of rubbish is consists of what appears to be processed residential refuse, shredded plastics, polystyrene, tyres and various household objects.

It represents just one of 517 unauthorized sites in the country, at least 11 of which are estimated to hold more than 20,000 metric tons of garbage. They include a 280,000-tonne site in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire county and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in the county of Kent.

The actual figure of such major sites is likely to be higher, as the environmental authority has earlier acknowledged it does not hold data on weight for each illegal site.

Most these sites are in countryside areas, frequently hidden, and on land that should be agricultural ground.

Organised Operations

Police state many are run by organized crime groups, who are making profit by asking for much less than lawful companies to take and bury waste.

Companies have to incur disposal fees to use lawful waste facilities, depending on the quantity and type of material they are trying to dispose of, and a waste tax is also applied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Local Frustration

Preparation work to clear the affected location commenced recently amid concerns over the potential of fire and the consequences that would have on the close-by highway.

A commercial clean-up contractor has been given the task to remediate the location over the next 12 months at a expense of £9.6m.

An compliance official for the government regulatory team commented that the authority would be seeking to claim back the clean-up expenses under proceeds of crime acts from any individual ultimately found guilty at the termination of its ongoing inquiry.

She noted that this week's detentions would help "drive the probe forward" and permit the agency to "follow more lines of inquiry to understand exactly what occurred and who was a party to it".

"The unlawful site at the site was an appalling and intentional assault on our ecology and officials understand the public's anger at this terrible crime," she said.

A government official welcomed the arrests, adding: "The illegal deposit of rubbish at this location is appalling and has resulted in considerable detriment to the natural world and upset to the nearby population.

"Our authorities is committed to stamping out this type of criminality across the UK, by increasing financing to address environmental crime, recruiting more personnel and implementing tougher checks and sanctions for those who flout the law."

The detentions were executed on the specified day by personnel from a specialist serious crime team and are in addition to an earlier detention of a 39-year-old from the Guildford region in November. He was released awaiting further inquiries.