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Two individuals have been arrested as an element of an probe into the tipping of several thousand of metric tons of refuse in a open field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Authorities indicated that a 69-year-old was apprehended at a dwelling in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was detained in Slough in association with the enormous pile of rubbish tipped near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These apprehensions come after a previous revelation which uncovered the presence of more than 500 illegal tips in the country of England, including at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" greater than 20,000 metric tons.

A representative for the environment body said that the detentions were for ecological and financial violations and represented a "key step" in continuing probes. The two individuals have been set free on bail.

Scale of the Problem

The dump in the Kidlington area, positioned between the Cherwell River and the A34 highway, is thought to hold around 21,000 tonnes of waste in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) tall.

This heap of waste is composed of what appears to be processed household rubbish, chopped up plastic items, polystyrene, tyres and other domestic items.

It represents just one of 517 unlawful dumps in England, at a minimum of 11 of which contain over 20,000 metric tons of rubbish. These feature a 280,000-tonne area in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall county and a 36,000-tonne site in the county of Kent.

The actual figure of such bigger sites is likely to be greater, as the environmental authority has previously indicated it does not possess records on tonnage for each unlawful tip.

A large proportion of sites are in countryside areas, typically out of sight, and on land that is zoned as arable land.

Criminal Enterprise

Authorities report many are operated by organized crime groups, who are making profit by asking for much less than lawful operators to receive and dispose of rubbish.

Firms have to pay gate fees to use lawful waste facilities, contingent on the volume and nature of waste they are trying to dispose of, and a waste tax is also applied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Local Outrage

Preparatory work to remove the Kidlington site started earlier this month following fears over the risk of blaze and the impact that would have on the close-by major road.

A private clean-up company has been granted the contract to remediate the site over the following 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An investigations officer for the country's regulatory division stated that the agency would be seeking to recoup the clearance expenses under proceeds of crime acts from anyone successfully found guilty at the end of its current inquiry.

She further stated that the recent arrests would help "push the investigation forward" and enable officials to "follow more lines of inquiry to ascertain precisely what happened and who was implicated".

"This unauthorized dump at the site was an appalling and calculated attack on our environment and officials understand the community's anger at this egregious act," she remarked.

A government minister praised the arrests, commenting: "The unlawful tipping of waste at Kidlington is disgraceful and has caused considerable damage to the environment and upset to the nearby community.

"The administration is committed to eradicating this category of illegal activity across the nation, by increasing resources to tackle waste crime, hiring more personnel and implementing stricter controls and sanctions for those who break the rules."

The apprehensions were executed on a recent Thursday by officers from a specialist serious crime unit and are in addition to an earlier arrest of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area area in November. He was set free pending further enquiries.