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Two men have been taken into custody as a component of an inquiry into the tipping of many thousands of tonnes of rubbish in a rural field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Officials reported that a 69-year-old was detained at a residence in Hampshire's Andover, while a man in his fifties was taken into custody in the town of Slough in relation with the huge pile of waste dumped near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These arrests occur a week after a prior revelation which exposed the existence of in excess of 500 unlawful sites in England, featuring at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" bigger than 20,000 metric tons.

A spokeswoman for the regulatory agency said that the apprehensions were for ecological and proceeds of crime offences and represented a "crucial step" in ongoing investigations. The two individuals have been set free on conditional release.

Scale of the Situation

The tipping ground in Kidlington, positioned between the river Cherwell and the A34 road, is estimated to house approximately 21,000 metric tons of rubbish in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) tall.

This pile of waste is made up of what looks to be treated household rubbish, fragmented plastic items, polystyrene, automobile tires and other household items.

It is just one of 517 illegal sites across England, at minimum 11 of which contain more than 20,000 tonnes of waste. Such sites include a 280,000-tonne area in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire county and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne dump in Kent.

The total amount of such bigger locations is likely to be higher, as the environmental body has previously stated it does not maintain information on tonnage for each illegal dump.

Most sites are in agricultural locations, frequently out of sight, and on land that is zoned as farm land.

Organized Operations

Law enforcement state many are managed by criminal organizations, who are making money by asking for significantly less than legitimate operators to receive and landfill waste.

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

Local Anger

Initial operations to remove the Kidlington area dump started in recent weeks amid fears over the risk of fire and the effect that would have on the nearby highway.

A commercial waste clearance company has been granted the task to deal with the location over the next 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An enforcement officer for the national environmental crime team stated that the authority would be seeking to recover the clearance funds under asset recovery laws from anyone successfully convicted at the end of its ongoing inquiry.

She added that this week's arrests would help "push the investigation forward" and permit officials to "follow more lines of inquiry to understand in detail what transpired and who was implicated".

"This unlawful tip at the site was an atrocious and calculated assault on our ecology and the authorities empathize with the local frustration at this horrific crime," she said.

A government minister welcomed the actions, commenting: "This unauthorized deposit of waste at Kidlington is utterly appalling and has resulted in substantial detriment to the environment and upset to the nearby population.

"The government is dedicated to stamping out this type of crime throughout the country, by augmenting funds to combat illegal dumping, employing more officers and enacting more severe checks and fines for those who break the rules."

The arrests were carried out on Thursday by agents from a specialist crime team and are in addition to an prior arrest of a 39-year-old from the Surrey region in last November. He was let go pending more enquiries.