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A pair of individuals have been taken into custody as an element of an investigation into the tipping of thousands of tons of rubbish in a rural field in Oxfordshire.

Authorities reported that a 69-year-old was arrested at a dwelling in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in Slough in association with the massive pile of waste deposited near the area of Kidlington.

These apprehensions follow a recent revelation which revealed the presence of in excess of 500 unlawful tips in England, featuring at a minimum of 11 so-called "super sites" greater than 20,000 tonnes.

A spokeswoman for the regulatory body said that the arrests were for environment-related and financial violations and were a "key step" in ongoing inquiries. The apprehended men have been released on bail.

Scale of the Situation

The tipping ground in near Kidlington, located between the river Cherwell and the A34, is believed to house approximately 21,000 tonnes of refuse in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) lengthwise and 6m (20ft) in height.

This pile of garbage is consists of what appears to be treated household refuse, shredded plastics, Styrofoam, tires and various household objects.

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

The overall figure of such bigger dumps is likely to be greater, as the environmental agency has earlier indicated it does not hold data on tonnage for every unauthorized tip.

The majority these sites are in countryside settings, typically concealed, and on land that is intended to be farm land.

Organized Operations

Authorities state many are managed by criminal organizations, who are earning money by charging much less than lawful operators to take and landfill garbage.

Firms have to incur site fees to use licensed waste facilities, based on the volume and category of material they are trying to get rid of, and landfill tax is also charged at just over £126 per ton.

Community Outrage

Preparatory efforts to clean up the Kidlington site began in recent weeks following concerns over the potential of fire and the impact that would have on the close-by major road.

A commercial waste removal firm has been given the task to remediate the location over the next 12 months period at a expense of £9.6m.

An compliance manager for the government environmental crime team commented that the agency would be aiming to claim back the clean-up costs under proceeds of crime acts from anyone convicted at the conclusion of its current investigation.

She noted that these arrests would help "move the inquiry forward" and allow officials to "investigate more leads to determine in detail what happened and who was implicated".

"This illegal site at Kidlington was an atrocious and intentional assault on our environment and the authorities empathize with the community's outrage at this terrible offence," she remarked.

A cabinet minister praised the detentions, stating: "This illegal tipping of rubbish at the site is utterly appalling and has caused significant damage to the ecology and upset to the local community.

"The authorities is dedicated to eliminating this kind of crime throughout the UK, by augmenting financing to tackle environmental crime, recruiting more personnel and implementing more severe checks and fines for those who flout the rules."

The detentions were executed on the specified day by personnel from a regional crime squad and are in addition to an prior arrest of a man in his thirties from the Guildford region in last November. He was released pending additional investigations.