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Two men have been taken into custody as a component of an investigation into the tipping of thousands of metric tons of rubbish in a open field in Oxfordshire.

Officials stated that a 69-year-old was apprehended at a residence in Hampshire's Andover, while a man in his fifties was taken into custody in the town of Slough in association with the massive heap of garbage dumped near the area of Kidlington.

These arrests occur a week after a previous investigation which revealed the existence of over 500 illegal dumps throughout the country of England, including at minimum 11 so-called "major sites" bigger than 20,000 tonnes.

A official for the environment authorities said that the apprehensions were for environment-related and money laundering offences and represented a "crucial step" in continuing probes. The two individuals have been let go on conditional release.

Scale of the Situation

The tipping ground in the Kidlington area, situated between the River Cherwell and the A34 road, is estimated to house around 21,000 tonnes of rubbish in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) lengthwise and 6m (20ft) tall.

This mound of waste is consists of what seems to be treated household refuse, fragmented plastics, expanded polystyrene, tyres and other household objects.

It represents just a single of 517 illegal sites throughout England, at minimum 11 of which hold over 20,000 tons of garbage. Such sites include a 280,000-tonne site in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire county and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The overall number of such bigger sites is expected to be greater, as the environment body has in the past stated it does not hold records on weight for every unlawful tip.

A large proportion of such locations are in countryside settings, typically concealed, and on land that is zoned as arable land.

Criminal Enterprise

Law enforcement report many are run by criminal organizations, who are making profit by demanding much less than lawful operators to accept and bury garbage.

Firms have to be liable for gate fees to use legitimate disposal sites, contingent on the amount and type of refuse they are trying to discard, and a waste tax is also applied at just over £126 per tonne.

Public Frustration

Initial work to remove the Kidlington site started earlier this month due to worries over the risk of blaze and the impact that would have on the nearby highway.

A commercial waste removal contractor has been given the job to deal with the site over the coming 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An investigations official for the country's environmental crime team commented that the body would be seeking to claim back the clearance funds under confiscation laws from anyone ultimately found guilty at the conclusion of its ongoing investigation.

She further stated that these detentions would help "push the probe forward" and allow the agency to "pursue more avenues to determine in detail what occurred and who was involved".

"The illegal dump at the site was an atrocious and intentional attack on our ecology and we share the community's outrage at this horrific offence," she said.

A senior official praised the detentions, commenting: "This unauthorized deposit of garbage at the site is appalling and has caused substantial detriment to the environment and anguish to the surrounding residents.

"Our administration is pledged to eliminating this kind of criminality throughout the UK, by augmenting funds to combat waste crime, employing more personnel and introducing stricter measures and sanctions for those who flout the rules."

The apprehensions were carried out on the specified day by officers from a regional serious crime unit and follow an earlier arrest of a 39-year-old from the Surrey area in the autumn. He was let go pending additional investigations.