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Two individuals have been taken into custody as a component of an inquiry into the dumping of many thousands of tonnes of refuse in a open field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Law enforcement stated that a 69-year-old was arrested at a residence in the town of Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in the town of Slough in association with the massive pile of waste tipped near the area of Kidlington.

These detentions come after a prior revelation which uncovered the presence of over 500 unlawful tips across England, encompassing at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" bigger than 20,000 tonnes.

A spokeswoman for the environment agency said that the arrests were for environmental and proceeds of crime crimes and represented a "key step" in ongoing inquiries. Both men have been released on bail.

Scale of the Problem

The dump in the Kidlington area, located between the river Cherwell and the A34, is estimated to hold about 21,000 tonnes of refuse in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) high.

This heap of garbage is made up of what seems to be sorted household rubbish, shredded plastics, polystyrene, tyres and various domestic objects.

It is just a single of 517 unauthorized tips in England, at a minimum of 11 of which contain more than 20,000 tonnes of waste. They feature a 280,000-tonne location in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The total number of such major sites is likely to be higher, as the regulatory authority has previously indicated it does not maintain records on volume for all unauthorized tip.

Most sites are in rural locations, typically out of sight, and on land that is intended to be agricultural ground.

Organised Activity

Police report many are run by organized crime groups, who are generating money by asking for significantly less than legitimate operators to take and dispose of rubbish.

Companies have to incur disposal fees to use legitimate disposal sites, depending on the volume and category of waste they are trying to discard, and a waste tax is also applied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Local Anger

Preparatory efforts to clear the affected location commenced earlier this month due to concerns over the threat of fire and the impact that would have on the close-by A-road.

A commercial waste removal contractor has been granted the task to remediate the site over the coming 12 months at a expense of £9.6m.

An investigations official for the government environmental crime unit commented that the agency would be seeking to recover the clearance expenses under proceeds of crime acts from anyone ultimately convicted at the termination of its active inquiry.

She added that these apprehensions would help "drive the probe forward" and allow authorities to "pursue more lines of inquiry to ascertain exactly what occurred and who was involved".

"This unlawful site at Kidlington was an atrocious and intentional assault on our ecology and officials understand the local anger at this horrific crime," she remarked.

A government representative supported the arrests, adding: "This unauthorized tipping of waste at this location is utterly appalling and has caused considerable damage to the natural world and upset to the nearby population.

"Our administration is pledged to eliminating this category of illegal activity in the UK, by boosting resources to combat illegal dumping, recruiting more personnel and enacting stricter measures and penalties for those who violate the rules."

The arrests were carried out on Thursday by agents from a specialist crime unit and are in addition to an earlier arrest of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area in last November. He was released subject to further investigations.