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Two men have been taken into custody as a component of an investigation into the tipping of several thousand of tonnes of rubbish in a field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Authorities reported that a man in his late sixties was detained at a dwelling in the town of Andover, while a man in his fifties was taken into custody in the town of Slough in relation with the enormous heap of waste dumped near Kidlington.

These detentions occur a week after a previous investigation which uncovered the operation of in excess of 500 unauthorized sites across England, including at least 11 so-called "large-scale sites" bigger than 20,000 tons.

A spokeswoman for the environmental agency stated that the detentions were for environment-related and proceeds of crime crimes and were a "crucial step" in continuing investigations. The two individuals have been let go on conditional release.

Size of the Situation

The dump in the Kidlington area, situated between the River Cherwell and the A34, is estimated to contain approximately 21,000 tonnes of rubbish in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) high.

This mound of garbage is composed of what seems to be processed residential refuse, shredded plastic items, Styrofoam, tires and other everyday items.

It constitutes just a single of 517 unauthorized sites across England, at least 11 of which contain over 20,000 tons of waste. They include a 280,000-tonne location in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne dump in Kent.

The actual figure of such bigger sites is expected to be larger, as the environment agency has earlier stated it does not maintain records on volume for all unlawful tip.

The majority such locations are in countryside locations, often out of sight, and on land that is zoned as farm land.

Organised Enterprise

Authorities say numerous are run by criminal organizations, who are earning money by demanding far less than lawful companies to take and landfill garbage.

Firms have to incur disposal fees to use legitimate disposal sites, based on the amount and type of refuse they are trying to dispose of, and landfill tax is also applied at just over £126 per ton.

Community Anger

Preparation operations to remove the Kidlington location commenced earlier this month following fears over the potential of fire and the consequences that would have on the nearby major road.

A contracted waste removal company has been awarded the job to handle the location over the following 12 months period at a price of £9.6m.

An investigations manager for the government environmental crime team said that the body would be seeking to recover the remediation costs under asset recovery legislation from any party ultimately found guilty at the end of its current inquiry.

She noted that these apprehensions would help "drive the probe forward" and enable the agency to "pursue more leads to understand precisely what transpired and who was implicated".

"The unauthorized site at this location was an atrocious and intentional affront on our ecology and officials empathize with the community's frustration at this terrible crime," she said.

A government minister welcomed the arrests, commenting: "The illegal tipping of waste at this location is appalling and has caused substantial detriment to the environment and anguish to the local community.

"Our authorities is dedicated to stamping out this type of illegal activity throughout the nation, by increasing financing to address environmental crime, hiring more officers and enacting more severe measures and penalties for those who flout the law."

The arrests were made on a recent Thursday by personnel from a specialist organised crime squad and follow an earlier arrest of a man in his thirties from the Guildford area area in the autumn. He was set free awaiting further inquiries.