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Two men have been taken into custody as part of an investigation into the illegal deposit of several thousand of tonnes of rubbish in a rural field in Oxfordshire.

Authorities stated that a 69-year-old was apprehended at a residence in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in Slough, Berkshire in association with the huge pile of waste deposited near Kidlington.

These arrests follow a previous revelation which revealed the operation of over 500 unlawful dumps throughout the country of England, featuring at least 11 so-called "super sites" larger than 20,000 tons.

A representative for the environmental body stated that the apprehensions were for environment-related and proceeds of crime violations and represented a "key step" in continuing investigations. The two individuals have been set free on conditional release.

Size of the Problem

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

This mound of waste is consists of what appears to be processed residential waste, chopped up plastics, polystyrene, automobile tires and assorted domestic articles.

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

The total figure of such larger dumps is likely to be higher, as the environment agency has previously stated it does not hold data on weight for every unlawful site.

Most these sites are in agricultural areas, typically hidden, and on land that should be agricultural property.

Organised Operations

Police report a significant number are operated by organised crime gangs, who are making money by demanding significantly less than legitimate companies to receive and dispose of waste.

Companies have to pay site fees to use lawful landfill sites, based on the volume and category of waste they are trying to dispose of, and a disposal levy is also applied at just over £126 per tonne.

Local Anger

Preparation operations to clean up the affected site commenced in recent weeks due to concerns over the potential of blaze and the impact that would have on the nearby A-road.

A private waste removal firm has been awarded the task to deal with the location over the coming 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An compliance officer for the government regulatory unit said that the body would be looking to recoup the remediation funds under asset recovery acts from any individual successfully found guilty at the termination of its active inquiry.

She added that these apprehensions would help "push the probe forward" and enable authorities to "follow more leads to understand exactly what occurred and who was a party to it".

"This unlawful dump at this location was an shocking and intentional affront on our environment and officials empathize with the community's outrage at this terrible act," she said.

A government official supported the detentions, commenting: "The unlawful tipping of garbage at this location is appalling and has caused substantial harm to the environment and anguish to the surrounding residents.

"Our administration is committed to eliminating this type of crime throughout the UK, by increasing financing to combat environmental crime, recruiting more personnel and introducing more severe measures and fines for those who break the law."

The detentions were made on Thursday by personnel from a specialist organised crime team and come after an previous detention of a 39-year-old from the Guildford region in the autumn. He was released subject to more inquiries.