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Two individuals have been taken into custody as an element of an inquiry into the tipping of thousands of tonnes of waste in a rural field in Oxfordshire, England.

Officials indicated that a man in his late sixties was detained at a residence in Andover, Hampshire, while a 54-year-old was detained in the town of Slough in relation with the massive heap of waste deposited near the area of Kidlington.

These detentions follow a prior revelation which exposed the presence of over 500 illegal dumps in the country of England, including at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" larger than 20,000 tonnes.

A representative for the regulatory agency commented that the detentions were for environment-related and proceeds of crime crimes and constituted a "crucial step" in continuing probes. Both men have been released on bail.

Magnitude of the Issue

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

This pile of waste is consists of what appears to be processed household waste, shredded plastics, expanded polystyrene, tires and various domestic items.

It is just one example of 517 unauthorized sites across England, at least 11 of which are estimated to hold over 20,000 metric tons of rubbish. They feature a 280,000-tonne location in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The actual figure of such larger dumps is probably to be larger, as the environment agency has earlier indicated it does not maintain data on volume for every unauthorized tip.

The majority these sites are in agricultural areas, typically out of sight, and on land that is zoned as farm ground.

Organised Enterprise

Police report numerous are run by organised crime gangs, who are making money by demanding significantly less than legitimate firms to accept and bury waste.

Firms have to incur gate fees to use licensed disposal sites, depending on the volume and category of material they are trying to dispose of, and landfill tax is also levied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Local Frustration

Initial efforts to clean up the affected dump started recently due to fears over the risk of combustion and the consequences that would have on the close-by A-road.

A commercial waste clearance company has been granted the contract to handle the area over the coming 12 months period at a price of £9.6m.

An enforcement official for the national environment team commented that the agency would be aiming to claim back the clearance funds under confiscation acts from any party successfully prosecuted at the end of its active case.

She added that this week's arrests would help "move the probe forward" and enable authorities to "follow more avenues to determine precisely what happened and who was a party to it".

"This illegal site at Kidlington was an appalling and deliberate affront on our environment and officials empathize with the community's outrage at this terrible offence," she remarked.

A senior minister supported the detentions, commenting: "The illegal deposit of garbage at Kidlington is disgraceful and has caused substantial damage to the environment and upset to the nearby population.

"The government is pledged to stamping out this kind of criminality in the UK, by boosting funds to combat environmental crime, recruiting more personnel and introducing stricter measures and sanctions for those who flout the law."

The arrests were executed on Thursday by agents from a regional serious crime squad and are in addition to an prior arrest of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area region in November. He was set free subject to additional inquiries.