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A pair of individuals have been taken into custody as an element of an investigation into the illegal deposit of thousands of tons of refuse in a rural field in Oxfordshire, England.

Law enforcement reported that a man in his late sixties was arrested at a property in the town of Andover, while a 54-year-old was arrested in Slough in association with the enormous pile of rubbish dumped near Kidlington.

These detentions come after a prior revelation which revealed the presence of in excess of 500 unlawful sites in England, featuring at least 11 so-called "major sites" greater than 20,000 tons.

A spokeswoman for the environmental authorities stated that the apprehensions were for environment-related and financial crimes and constituted a "key step" in ongoing probes. The apprehended men have been set free on pre-trial release.

Scale of the Problem

The dump in the Kidlington area, positioned between the river Cherwell and the A34 highway, is estimated to hold approximately 21,000 tons of refuse in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) tall.

This heap of rubbish is consists of what looks to be sorted domestic refuse, shredded plastics, polystyrene, automobile tires and other household items.

It represents just one example of 517 unlawful dumps across England, at minimum 11 of which are estimated to hold in excess of 20,000 metric tons of waste. Such sites include a 280,000-tonne location in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in Kent.

The total amount of such major dumps is likely to be larger, as the environmental body has earlier stated it does not hold data on tonnage for every illegal dump.

Most these sites are in rural locations, typically concealed, and on land that is zoned as farm ground.

Criminal Enterprise

Authorities state numerous are operated by criminal organizations, who are earning cash by demanding significantly less than licensed companies to take and bury waste.

Companies have to incur disposal fees to use legitimate disposal sites, depending on the quantity and category of refuse they are trying to get rid of, and a waste tax is also levied at just over £126 per ton.

Public Outrage

Initial operations to remove the Kidlington area site started recently following worries over the potential of blaze and the effect that would have on the adjacent highway.

A contracted waste removal firm has been awarded the contract to handle the area over the next 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An investigations official for the government regulatory division said that the body would be looking to recoup the clearance expenses under proceeds of crime acts from any party ultimately convicted at the conclusion of its active case.

She added that this week's apprehensions would help "move the inquiry forward" and enable the agency to "follow more lines of inquiry to determine exactly what happened and who was involved".

"The illegal dump at this location was an appalling and intentional assault on our natural surroundings and we share the community's outrage at this egregious crime," she remarked.

A cabinet representative supported the arrests, commenting: "The illegal deposit of garbage at the site is utterly appalling and has resulted in significant detriment to the ecology and anguish to the surrounding population.

"The authorities is pledged to eliminating this category of illegal activity across the nation, by augmenting financing to combat waste crime, hiring more officers and implementing stricter measures and fines for those who flout the law."

The detentions were executed on a recent Thursday by personnel from a regional crime squad and follow an previous arrest of a man in his thirties from the Guildford area region in the autumn. He was let go awaiting additional enquiries.