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Two men have been detained as an element of an inquiry into the tipping of thousands of metric tons of rubbish in a field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Law enforcement indicated that a 69-year-old was detained at a residence in the town of Andover, while a man in his fifties was taken into custody in Slough, Berkshire in connection with the enormous pile of waste dumped near the area of Kidlington.

These detentions occur a week after a prior investigation which exposed the existence of in excess of 500 illegal sites across England, encompassing at least 11 so-called "large-scale sites" larger than 20,000 tonnes.

A spokeswoman for the environmental authorities commented that the apprehensions were for environment-related and proceeds of crime crimes and constituted a "vital step" in ongoing inquiries. The two individuals have been set free on bail.

Scale of the Problem

The illegal site in near Kidlington, located between the river Cherwell and the A34 highway, is believed to house around 21,000 metric tons of rubbish in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) tall.

This pile of rubbish is composed of what appears to be treated household refuse, shredded plastic materials, Styrofoam, automobile tires and assorted domestic items.

It represents just a single of 517 unauthorized dumps across England, at a minimum of 11 of which contain more than 20,000 metric tons of garbage. Such sites encompass a 280,000-tonne site in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The actual number of such major dumps is probably to be greater, as the environmental authority has earlier indicated it does not maintain data on volume for every unauthorized site.

Most such locations are in countryside areas, often hidden, and on land that is zoned as arable land.

Criminal Activity

Law enforcement report many are operated by organized crime groups, who are making profit by asking for far less than lawful operators to accept and bury waste.

Firms have to pay gate fees to use lawful disposal sites, based on the volume and category of refuse they are trying to dispose of, and a waste tax is also levied at just over £126 per ton.

Public Anger

Initial efforts to clean up the affected dump commenced in recent weeks following fears over the risk of blaze and the impact that would have on the close-by A-road.

A commercial waste clearance contractor has been given the job to deal with the area over the next 12 months at a cost of £9.6m.

An enforcement official for the country's environment team commented that the authority would be looking to claim back the remediation expenses under confiscation legislation from any individual successfully prosecuted at the conclusion of its active investigation.

She further stated that these arrests would help "push the investigation forward" and enable officials to "investigate more leads to ascertain in detail what transpired and who was implicated".

"The unauthorized dump at the site was an shocking and intentional assault on our natural surroundings and officials empathize with the public's frustration at this terrible act," she stated.

A cabinet official welcomed the detentions, commenting: "The unauthorized tipping of garbage at Kidlington is appalling and has resulted in significant harm to the environment and upset to the surrounding community.

"Our government is pledged to eradicating this kind of criminality in the nation, by boosting funds to tackle environmental crime, hiring more personnel and introducing tougher measures and sanctions for those who violate the law."

The arrests were carried out on Thursday by agents from a specialist serious crime squad and are in addition to an prior arrest of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area region in the autumn. He was released subject to further investigations.