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A pair of individuals have been arrested as an element of an inquiry into the tipping of many thousands of tons of rubbish in a open field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Law enforcement stated that a 69-year-old was apprehended at a property in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was detained in the town of Slough in connection with the enormous heap of waste deposited near the area of Kidlington.

These detentions follow a prior investigation which exposed the operation of over 500 unlawful sites across the country of England, encompassing at minimum 11 so-called "super sites" greater than 20,000 metric tons.

A spokeswoman for the environment authorities commented that the detentions were for environment-related and financial violations and were a "key step" in continuing inquiries. The two individuals have been let go on pre-trial release.

Size of the Situation

The illegal site in Kidlington, located between the Cherwell River and the A34 highway, is believed to hold around 21,000 tons of waste in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) in height.

This heap of rubbish is consists of what seems to be processed residential rubbish, chopped up plastic materials, polystyrene, tyres and assorted domestic items.

It is just a single of 517 unlawful tips throughout England, at least 11 of which hold in excess of 20,000 tons of rubbish. These feature a 280,000-tonne location in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne site in the county of Kent.

The actual amount of such larger locations is likely to be larger, as the environmental body has in the past indicated it does not possess data on tonnage for every unlawful tip.

Most these sites are in agricultural areas, typically concealed, and on land that is intended to be arable property.

Organized Activity

Law enforcement say many are operated by organized crime groups, who are earning cash by charging significantly less than lawful operators to take and bury garbage.

Firms have to incur disposal fees to use licensed waste facilities, depending on the amount and type of waste they are trying to get rid of, and a disposal levy is also levied at just over £126 per ton.

Community Anger

Initial operations to clear the Kidlington site began recently due to fears over the potential of blaze and the consequences that would have on the close-by major road.

A private waste removal firm has been awarded the task to remediate the area over the coming 12 months at a cost of £9.6m.

An compliance official for the national environmental crime unit commented that the body would be aiming to claim back the remediation costs under asset recovery laws from anyone ultimately found guilty at the conclusion of its current investigation.

She added that this week's apprehensions would help "move the inquiry forward" and allow authorities to "follow more lines of inquiry to ascertain precisely what transpired and who was involved".

"The unauthorized dump at this location was an shocking and deliberate affront on our ecology and the authorities share the community's frustration at this horrific offence," she remarked.

A cabinet official supported the actions, stating: "This unlawful tipping of garbage at Kidlington is appalling and has caused significant damage to the ecology and upset to the local residents.

"Our authorities is pledged to stamping out this kind of crime throughout the country, by increasing resources to combat illegal dumping, hiring more personnel and introducing more severe measures and fines for those who flout the regulations."

The arrests were made on the specified day by officers from a specialist organised crime team and are in addition to an previous arrest of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area in last November. He was released awaiting additional investigations.