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Two individuals have been taken into custody as an element of an investigation into the illegal deposit of thousands of metric tons of rubbish in a rural field in Oxfordshire, England.

Officials reported that a 69-year-old was detained at a property in Hampshire's Andover, while a man in his fifties was arrested in Slough in connection with the massive heap of rubbish tipped near the area of Kidlington.

These detentions follow a prior revelation which exposed the presence of over 500 unlawful sites in England, including at least 11 so-called "super sites" bigger than 20,000 metric tons.

A official for the regulatory agency stated that the detentions were for environmental and proceeds of crime crimes and constituted a "crucial step" in active probes. Both men have been let go on pre-trial release.

Magnitude of the Problem

The tipping ground in near Kidlington, positioned between the River Cherwell and the A34, is estimated to contain about 21,000 tonnes of rubbish in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) lengthwise and 6m (20ft) tall.

This pile of rubbish is consists of what appears to be treated domestic waste, fragmented plastics, polystyrene, tires and assorted domestic articles.

It constitutes just a single of 517 unauthorized tips in England, at minimum 11 of which are estimated to hold over 20,000 tons of waste. Such sites encompass a 280,000-tonne location in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall county and a 36,000-tonne dump in Kent.

The overall number of such larger locations is probably to be larger, as the environment authority has previously stated it does not possess information on weight for each unlawful site.

Most these sites are in agricultural locations, often concealed, and on land that should be agricultural ground.

Organised Enterprise

Police say many are managed by criminal organizations, who are earning profit by charging much less than lawful firms to receive and dispose of rubbish.

Firms have to incur site fees to use lawful disposal sites, depending on the amount and type of material they are trying to get rid of, and a disposal levy is also levied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Community Outrage

Preparation efforts to clear the Kidlington area dump began recently due to concerns over the risk of fire and the effect that would have on the adjacent highway.

A commercial clean-up firm has been given the contract to handle the area over the next 12 months at a expense of £9.6m.

An investigations official for the government regulatory division said that the agency would be seeking to recover the clean-up funds under asset recovery acts from any individual convicted at the conclusion of its ongoing inquiry.

She further stated that these arrests would help "push the investigation forward" and allow officials to "investigate more lines of inquiry to determine in detail what happened and who was a party to it".

"This unlawful tip at this location was an atrocious and intentional assault on our environment and officials understand the local outrage at this terrible offence," she stated.

A cabinet official welcomed the arrests, commenting: "The unlawful tipping of waste at the site is appalling and has caused significant damage to the ecology and distress to the local residents.

"The administration is pledged to stamping out this kind of illegal activity in the nation, by boosting resources to combat environmental crime, employing more personnel and introducing tougher checks and penalties for those who break the regulations."

The detentions were made on Thursday by agents from a specialist organised crime team and follow an earlier arrest of a man in his thirties from the Guildford region in the autumn. He was let go subject to further enquiries.