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Two individuals have been arrested as part of an probe into the dumping of many thousands of tons of refuse in a rural field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Officials indicated that a 69-year-old was detained at a property in Andover, Hampshire, while a man in his fifties was detained in Slough in association with the enormous pile of rubbish deposited near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These detentions come after a recent investigation which uncovered the existence of in excess of 500 unauthorized sites across the country of England, featuring at least 11 so-called "super sites" greater than 20,000 tons.

A representative for the environment agency stated that the detentions were for ecological and financial violations and represented a "key step" in continuing investigations. The two individuals have been released on conditional release.

Scale of the Situation

The tipping ground in Kidlington, situated between the river Cherwell and the A34 highway, is thought to contain approximately 21,000 tonnes of rubbish in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) lengthwise and 6m (20ft) in height.

This pile of garbage is made up of what seems to be sorted household waste, chopped up plastics, polystyrene, automobile tires and other everyday articles.

It is just one of 517 unlawful dumps throughout the country, at least 11 of which are estimated to hold over 20,000 tonnes of garbage. They include a 280,000-tonne site in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in Kent.

The overall amount of such larger dumps is probably to be higher, as the environment body has previously stated it does not possess records on weight for every illegal dump.

Most sites are in rural settings, often out of sight, and on land that is zoned as agricultural land.

Organised Activity

Authorities report a significant number are operated by organised crime gangs, who are generating profit by demanding far less than lawful firms to receive and landfill waste.

Firms have to pay site fees to use legitimate landfill sites, depending on the amount and nature of material they are trying to get rid of, and landfill tax is also charged at just over £126 per tonne.

Community Outrage

Preparatory work to clean up the affected dump commenced recently amid worries over the potential of fire and the impact that would have on the close-by major road.

A commercial waste clearance company has been granted the job to remediate the site over the coming 12 months at a cost of £9.6m.

An investigations manager for the country's environment division stated that the body would be aiming to claim back the remediation costs under proceeds of crime laws from any party successfully found guilty at the conclusion of its active investigation.

She noted that these apprehensions would help "drive the inquiry forward" and enable authorities to "pursue more leads to ascertain precisely what transpired and who was a party to it".

"The unauthorized tip at the site was an appalling and deliberate attack on our environment and officials empathize with the local anger at this egregious crime," she stated.

A cabinet representative welcomed the arrests, commenting: "This illegal deposit of rubbish at the site is utterly appalling and has resulted in significant harm to the ecology and distress to the nearby residents.

"Our administration is committed to eradicating this type of criminality across the UK, by boosting financing to tackle illegal dumping, hiring more officers and introducing more severe controls and fines for those who flout the law."

The apprehensions were executed on the specified day by personnel from a specialist organised crime squad and come after an prior apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Guildford region in November. He was released pending further investigations.