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Two men have been taken into custody as an element of an probe into the dumping of many thousands of metric tons of refuse in a rural field in Oxfordshire.

Authorities indicated that a 69-year-old was detained at a property in the town of Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in Slough, Berkshire in association with the huge mound of garbage tipped near the area of Kidlington.

These arrests occur a week after a prior investigation which exposed the presence of over 500 unauthorized tips throughout England, including at least 11 so-called "major sites" larger than 20,000 metric tons.

A official for the regulatory authorities said that the apprehensions were for environmental and financial crimes and represented a "key step" in ongoing investigations. The apprehended men have been let go on conditional release.

Scale of the Situation

The illegal site in the Kidlington area, situated between the Cherwell River and the A34 road, is believed to hold approximately 21,000 metric tons of waste in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) lengthwise and 6m (20ft) in height.

This mound of rubbish is composed of what looks to be processed residential waste, chopped up plastic materials, polystyrene, tires and various domestic articles.

It is just a single of 517 unlawful sites throughout the country, at a minimum of 11 of which hold more than 20,000 tons of waste. These include a 280,000-tonne site in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall county and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The actual amount of such major locations is expected to be larger, as the regulatory agency has in the past acknowledged it does not possess records on volume for each unauthorized site.

The majority these sites are in countryside areas, often out of sight, and on land that is zoned as farm property.

Organized Enterprise

Law enforcement state many are run by organized crime groups, who are making profit by asking for much less than legitimate companies to accept and landfill garbage.

Firms have to be liable for site fees to use lawful landfill sites, depending on the amount and type of material they are trying to discard, and a waste tax is also levied at just over £126 per ton.

Community Outrage

Preparatory operations to clean up the affected location commenced in recent weeks amid concerns over the risk of combustion and the impact that would have on the adjacent highway.

A private waste clearance company has been awarded the job to deal with the area over the following 12 months at a expense of £9.6m.

An compliance manager for the national environmental crime division said that the agency would be looking to claim back the remediation costs under proceeds of crime laws from anyone ultimately convicted at the end of its ongoing inquiry.

She noted that the recent detentions would help "drive the probe forward" and enable authorities to "pursue more lines of inquiry to determine exactly what occurred and who was implicated".

"This unlawful tip at Kidlington was an shocking and intentional affront on our natural surroundings and officials share the local outrage at this terrible act," she said.

A senior representative supported the actions, adding: "This unauthorized deposit of garbage at the site is disgraceful and has led to considerable harm to the environment and upset to the surrounding residents.

"The government is pledged to eradicating this kind of crime across the nation, by increasing resources to combat waste crime, hiring more officers and enacting stricter checks and sanctions for those who flout the law."

The apprehensions were executed on the specified day by officers from a specialist serious crime team and are in addition to an prior apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Guildford region in the autumn. He was released subject to more enquiries.