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A pair of individuals have been arrested as an element of an investigation into the tipping of many thousands of tons of rubbish in a field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Officials indicated that a 69-year-old was detained at a residence in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in Slough, Berkshire in connection with the enormous mound of rubbish tipped near Kidlington.

These detentions come after a recent revelation which uncovered the existence of over 500 unlawful dumps throughout England, featuring at a minimum of 11 so-called "major sites" larger than 20,000 metric tons.

A official for the environment authorities stated that the arrests were for environmental and money laundering crimes and were a "key step" in continuing probes. The two individuals have been released on conditional release.

Scale of the Issue

The illegal site in near Kidlington, situated between the Cherwell River and the A34 highway, is estimated to house about 21,000 metric tons of rubbish in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) lengthwise and 6m (20ft) in height.

This heap of rubbish is composed of what looks to be processed household waste, shredded plastic materials, polystyrene, tires and other everyday articles.

It constitutes just a single of 517 unauthorized sites across England, at least 11 of which are estimated to hold more than 20,000 tons of waste. Such sites encompass a 280,000-tonne location in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in Kent.

The overall number of such larger locations is expected to be higher, as the environment authority has in the past acknowledged it does not maintain information on weight for all illegal site.

A large proportion of such locations are in agricultural locations, typically hidden, and on land that should be agricultural land.

Organised Enterprise

Authorities state numerous are managed by organised crime gangs, who are earning cash by demanding much less than legitimate firms to take and bury waste.

Firms have to be liable for gate fees to use lawful landfill sites, contingent on the volume and nature of refuse they are trying to discard, and landfill tax is also charged at just over £126 per ton.

Public Anger

Preparatory work to clean up the Kidlington location started in recent weeks following fears over the potential of blaze and the consequences that would have on the adjacent highway.

A contracted clean-up contractor has been awarded the job to handle the site over the coming 12 months at a expense of £9.6m.

An investigations official for the country's environmental crime unit commented that the agency would be looking to recoup the remediation expenses under proceeds of crime acts from anyone ultimately convicted at the conclusion of its active investigation.

She further stated that these detentions would help "drive the inquiry forward" and allow authorities to "pursue more leads to understand precisely what happened and who was a party to it".

"This illegal dump at the site was an atrocious and intentional attack on our environment and officials empathize with the local anger at this egregious offence," she stated.

A government official welcomed the detentions, stating: "This unlawful deposit of waste at Kidlington is disgraceful and has resulted in significant harm to the ecology and upset to the surrounding population.

"Our government is dedicated to eradicating this type of criminality in the nation, by boosting funds to tackle environmental crime, recruiting more staff and introducing stricter checks and penalties for those who break the rules."

The apprehensions were executed on a recent Thursday by agents from a dedicated crime squad and follow an prior detention of a 39-year-old from the Guildford region in last November. He was set free subject to more inquiries.