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Two individuals have been arrested as a component of an investigation into the illegal deposit of several thousand of tonnes of rubbish in a open field in Oxfordshire, England.

Authorities stated that a 69-year-old was detained at a dwelling in Andover, Hampshire, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in the town of Slough in relation with the enormous pile of rubbish tipped near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These arrests come after a prior revelation which exposed the presence of in excess of 500 illegal sites in the country of England, including at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" bigger than 20,000 tonnes.

A spokeswoman for the environmental body commented that the detentions were for environmental and financial offences and represented a "crucial step" in continuing investigations. The two individuals have been let go on conditional release.

Scale of the Problem

The tipping ground in Kidlington, positioned between the River Cherwell and the A34 highway, is estimated to contain around 21,000 metric tons of rubbish in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) high.

This pile of garbage is composed of what seems to be processed household rubbish, shredded plastic items, Styrofoam, tyres and assorted household articles.

It constitutes just a single of 517 unauthorized dumps in the country, at minimum 11 of which contain more than 20,000 metric tons of rubbish. They feature a 280,000-tonne location in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in the county of Kent.

The total amount of such major dumps is probably to be larger, as the regulatory agency has previously indicated it does not maintain information on weight for each illegal tip.

Most such locations are in countryside areas, often concealed, and on land that should be arable land.

Organized Operations

Law enforcement report many are run by organised crime gangs, who are generating money by asking for far less than lawful firms to accept and landfill waste.

Firms have to be liable for gate fees to use licensed waste facilities, contingent on the volume and category of material they are trying to discard, and landfill tax is also levied at just over £126 per tonne.

Local Frustration

Initial operations to clean up the Kidlington area location commenced recently due to concerns over the potential of fire and the impact that would have on the close-by major road.

A private waste clearance contractor has been awarded the task to handle the area over the next 12 months at a cost of £9.6m.

An compliance manager for the national environment team commented that the authority would be aiming to recover the remediation costs under asset recovery legislation from any party ultimately prosecuted at the termination of its current case.

She added that this week's apprehensions would help "push the investigation forward" and enable officials to "follow more leads to understand precisely what occurred and who was implicated".

"This illegal dump at this location was an appalling and deliberate assault on our natural surroundings and officials share the public's anger at this egregious crime," she stated.

A senior representative praised the arrests, commenting: "The unauthorized deposit of waste at this location is disgraceful and has resulted in substantial damage to the natural world and anguish to the nearby residents.

"Our administration is committed to eliminating this kind of criminality across the UK, by boosting resources to tackle waste crime, hiring more personnel and enacting tougher controls and penalties for those who flout the law."

The detentions were made on a recent Thursday by officers from a regional crime unit and follow an earlier detention of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area in the autumn. He was set free awaiting additional investigations.