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Two men have been taken into custody as an element of an inquiry into the dumping of thousands of tons of rubbish in a rural field in Oxfordshire.

Law enforcement reported that a 69-year-old was arrested at a dwelling in Andover, Hampshire, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in the town of Slough in association with the huge heap of rubbish deposited near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These arrests come after a recent revelation which revealed the operation of over 500 unlawful dumps in England, featuring at minimum 11 so-called "super sites" greater than 20,000 tons.

A representative for the environment authorities commented that the apprehensions were for ecological and proceeds of crime violations and represented a "vital step" in continuing investigations. The apprehended men have been released on pre-trial release.

Magnitude of the Issue

The tipping ground in the Kidlington area, located between the River Cherwell and the A34 road, is thought to house around 21,000 tonnes of waste in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) in height.

This mound of garbage is consists of what seems to be processed residential waste, shredded plastic items, expanded polystyrene, tyres and other domestic items.

It constitutes just a single of 517 unlawful dumps across England, at least 11 of which contain over 20,000 tons of waste. These feature a 280,000-tonne location in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall county and a 36,000-tonne dump in Kent.

The actual amount of such bigger sites is expected to be larger, as the regulatory authority has in the past indicated it does not possess data on weight for all unlawful site.

Most such locations are in countryside settings, typically out of sight, and on land that should be agricultural ground.

Organised Activity

Police state many are managed by criminal organizations, who are earning profit by charging much less than legitimate operators to receive and dispose of garbage.

Businesses have to pay gate fees to use licensed disposal sites, based on the volume and nature of material they are trying to discard, and a disposal levy is also charged at just over £126 per tonne.

Local Outrage

Preparation operations to clean up the Kidlington location commenced in recent weeks following concerns over the threat of combustion and the effect that would have on the close-by A-road.

A private waste removal contractor has been awarded the task to deal with the location over the following 12 months at a cost of £9.6m.

An enforcement officer for the national regulatory team said that the agency would be seeking to claim back the clean-up costs under proceeds of crime laws from any party successfully prosecuted at the end of its current case.

She noted that these detentions would help "push the inquiry forward" and enable authorities to "investigate more lines of inquiry to ascertain in detail what happened and who was a party to it".

"This illegal dump at the site was an shocking and calculated attack on our natural surroundings and officials empathize with the public's anger at this egregious act," she stated.

A senior representative supported the actions, commenting: "This unauthorized dumping of rubbish at the site is appalling and has led to substantial harm to the ecology and distress to the nearby population.

"The authorities is dedicated to eradicating this type of criminality in the UK, by boosting funds to tackle waste crime, recruiting more personnel and implementing stricter measures and sanctions for those who violate the regulations."

The arrests were made on a recent Thursday by officers from a dedicated organised crime team and come after an prior apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Surrey region in the autumn. He was set free subject to more inquiries.