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A pair of individuals have been taken into custody as an element of an probe into the tipping of several thousand of metric tons of refuse in a rural field in Oxfordshire.

Authorities stated that a man in his late sixties was arrested at a property in Andover, Hampshire, while a man in his fifties was detained in Slough in relation with the huge mound of waste dumped near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These detentions follow a recent report which revealed the existence of in excess of 500 unlawful sites across England, featuring at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" larger than 20,000 tons.

A representative for the regulatory agency stated that the apprehensions were for environmental and money laundering violations and were a "key step" in ongoing inquiries. The two individuals have been released on conditional release.

Size of the Situation

The tipping ground in Kidlington, located between the Cherwell River and the A34, is estimated to contain around 21,000 tonnes of refuse in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) high.

This mound of waste is consists of what seems to be sorted residential rubbish, fragmented plastic items, Styrofoam, tires and other everyday objects.

It is just one of 517 illegal tips throughout the country, at minimum 11 of which contain in excess of 20,000 tons of rubbish. They feature a 280,000-tonne site in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall county and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The overall figure of such larger dumps is probably to be larger, as the environmental body has previously acknowledged it does not maintain data on tonnage for every illegal site.

Most sites are in agricultural areas, frequently hidden, and on land that should be farm land.

Organized Activity

Authorities state numerous are managed by organised crime gangs, who are earning money by charging significantly less than legitimate firms to take and bury rubbish.

Businesses have to incur gate fees to use lawful landfill sites, based on the amount and type of waste they are trying to dispose of, and a disposal levy is also applied at just over £126 per ton.

Local Outrage

Initial operations to clear the Kidlington area location started in recent weeks amid fears over the risk of blaze and the effect that would have on the adjacent major road.

A contracted clean-up company has been given the contract to deal with the site over the coming 12 months period at a price of £9.6m.

An enforcement official for the national regulatory team said that the body would be looking to claim back the remediation costs under asset recovery acts from any party found guilty at the end of its current case.

She further stated that this week's detentions would help "drive the inquiry forward" and enable the agency to "investigate more avenues to ascertain in detail what happened and who was implicated".

"The unauthorized dump at Kidlington was an appalling and intentional affront on our ecology and we share the local outrage at this terrible crime," she remarked.

A cabinet representative welcomed the detentions, stating: "The illegal deposit of rubbish at Kidlington is utterly appalling and has caused significant damage to the environment and upset to the surrounding community.

"Our government is pledged to stamping out this kind of criminality throughout the nation, by increasing financing to combat environmental crime, employing more staff and implementing stricter checks and sanctions for those who flout the law."

The apprehensions were made on the specified day by personnel from a specialist organised crime unit and come after an prior apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Surrey region in the autumn. He was let go subject to more investigations.