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Two individuals have been arrested as part of an probe into the tipping of several thousand of metric tons of waste in a field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Authorities indicated that a man in his late sixties was detained at a residence in the town of Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in Slough, Berkshire in association with the enormous heap of garbage dumped near the area of Kidlington.

These arrests occur a week after a previous report which exposed the existence of in excess of 500 unlawful dumps in England, featuring at least 11 so-called "large-scale sites" greater than 20,000 tons.

A representative for the regulatory agency said that the arrests were for ecological and proceeds of crime crimes and constituted a "vital step" in ongoing inquiries. Both men have been released on conditional release.

Magnitude of the Issue

The illegal site in the Kidlington area, positioned between the River Cherwell and the A34, is believed to house around 21,000 metric tons of rubbish in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) tall.

This pile of waste is consists of what looks to be sorted domestic waste, chopped up plastics, polystyrene, automobile tires and various domestic items.

It represents just one of 517 unlawful sites across the country, at a minimum of 11 of which hold more than 20,000 tonnes of rubbish. Such sites encompass a 280,000-tonne site in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall county and a 36,000-tonne tip in Kent.

The overall figure of such bigger dumps is likely to be higher, as the environmental agency has previously indicated it does not hold information on weight for each unlawful site.

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

Criminal Activity

Authorities state numerous are managed by organized crime groups, who are making cash by asking for far less than licensed companies to take and bury garbage.

Companies have to be liable for site fees to use licensed disposal sites, based on the amount and category of material they are trying to get rid of, and a disposal levy is also applied at just over £126 per tonne.

Community Frustration

Initial operations to clear the Kidlington area site commenced in recent weeks following worries over the threat of blaze and the consequences that would have on the nearby A-road.

A contracted clean-up company has been awarded the job to handle the location over the coming 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An compliance officer for the government environment unit stated that the agency would be aiming to recover the clearance funds under asset recovery legislation from any individual found guilty at the termination of its active investigation.

She noted that the recent arrests would help "drive the probe forward" and allow the agency to "investigate more lines of inquiry to understand exactly what occurred and who was implicated".

"The illegal site at Kidlington was an shocking and deliberate assault on our environment and officials share the local anger at this egregious crime," she remarked.

A cabinet official supported the arrests, commenting: "This illegal tipping of rubbish at Kidlington is disgraceful and has caused significant detriment to the natural world and anguish to the local community.

"The government is pledged to eradicating this category of crime throughout the UK, by increasing resources to combat waste crime, hiring more officers and implementing more severe measures and penalties for those who flout the rules."

The arrests were made on the specified day by personnel from a regional crime team and are in addition to an earlier apprehension of a man in his thirties from the Guildford region in the autumn. He was set free awaiting additional inquiries.