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Two men have been detained as an element of an inquiry into the tipping of thousands of tons of refuse in a rural field in Oxfordshire, England.

Officials stated that a man in his late sixties was arrested at a residence in the town of Andover, while a man in his fifties was taken into custody in Slough, Berkshire in connection with the huge mound of waste deposited near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These arrests occur a week after a prior investigation which exposed the existence of in excess of 500 unauthorized sites in England, featuring at least 11 so-called "super sites" greater than 20,000 tonnes.

A spokeswoman for the regulatory authorities said that the arrests were for environment-related and proceeds of crime crimes and were a "crucial step" in ongoing investigations. The apprehended men have been let go on conditional release.

Scale of the Issue

The illegal site in the Kidlington area, positioned between the River Cherwell and the A34, is thought to contain around 21,000 tonnes of waste in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) lengthwise and 6m (20ft) high.

This heap of waste is composed of what appears to be processed residential waste, shredded plastics, expanded polystyrene, automobile tires and various everyday articles.

It is just a single of 517 unlawful dumps in England, at least 11 of which are estimated to hold over 20,000 metric tons of garbage. Such sites feature a 280,000-tonne location in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in the county of Kent.

The overall amount of such major sites is probably to be higher, as the regulatory agency has previously acknowledged it does not maintain records on weight for all illegal site.

Most such locations are in countryside settings, typically hidden, and on land that should be arable property.

Organized Operations

Authorities say numerous are managed by criminal organizations, who are generating money by charging much less than lawful firms to take and dispose of rubbish.

Firms have to be liable for disposal fees to use legitimate waste facilities, based on the volume and nature of refuse they are trying to get rid of, and a disposal levy is also applied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Community Anger

Preparation work to clear the Kidlington site began earlier this month following worries over the potential of fire and the impact that would have on the close-by major road.

A commercial clean-up company has been awarded the job to remediate the location over the following 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An compliance official for the country's environment team said that the agency would be aiming to claim back the remediation costs under confiscation laws from any individual prosecuted at the termination of its ongoing case.

She noted that this week's arrests would help "drive the inquiry forward" and enable officials to "follow more lines of inquiry to understand precisely what occurred and who was a party to it".

"The unauthorized dump at this location was an appalling and calculated assault on our natural surroundings and we understand the local frustration at this horrific crime," she said.

A cabinet minister supported the detentions, adding: "The illegal dumping of waste at Kidlington is disgraceful and has caused substantial damage to the environment and distress to the surrounding residents.

"The government is committed to stamping out this category of illegal activity throughout the UK, by augmenting resources to tackle waste crime, recruiting more officers and enacting tougher checks and sanctions for those who flout the regulations."

The detentions were made on Thursday by personnel from a regional crime team and are in addition to an earlier detention of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area area in the autumn. He was set free awaiting additional investigations.