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Two men have been arrested as an element of an inquiry into the illegal deposit of several thousand of tonnes of refuse in a field in Oxfordshire.

Law enforcement stated that a man in his late sixties was detained at a dwelling in the town of Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in Slough in connection with the massive pile of rubbish deposited near Kidlington.

These apprehensions follow a prior revelation which exposed the operation of over 500 unauthorized dumps in the country of England, including at least 11 so-called "large-scale sites" larger than 20,000 metric tons.

A representative for the regulatory agency said that the arrests were for environmental and proceeds of crime violations and represented a "key step" in ongoing inquiries. The two individuals have been let go on pre-trial release.

Size of the Issue

The tipping ground in Kidlington, located between the Cherwell River and the A34 highway, is believed to hold about 21,000 metric tons of waste in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) tall.

This mound of rubbish is made up of what looks to be processed domestic rubbish, chopped up plastics, Styrofoam, automobile tires and assorted household items.

It represents just one example of 517 unlawful dumps in the country, at a minimum of 11 of which are estimated to hold over 20,000 metric tons of rubbish. Such sites encompass a 280,000-tonne location in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire county and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne site in the county of Kent.

The overall number of such larger dumps is expected to be higher, as the environment body has earlier stated it does not maintain data on tonnage for every unauthorized site.

The majority these sites are in agricultural settings, typically hidden, and on land that should be agricultural ground.

Organised Enterprise

Law enforcement report numerous are managed by criminal organizations, who are making profit by demanding much less than licensed operators to take and landfill garbage.

Businesses have to pay disposal fees to use lawful disposal sites, contingent on the quantity and type of material they are trying to dispose of, and a disposal levy is also levied at just over £126 per tonne.

Local Outrage

Preparation work to clean up the Kidlington location began in recent weeks due to fears over the potential of combustion and the effect that would have on the nearby highway.

A private waste clearance contractor has been given the contract to handle the site over the next 12 months period at a price of £9.6m.

An investigations manager for the country's environment unit said that the body would be looking to claim back the clean-up costs under asset recovery legislation from any party ultimately prosecuted at the conclusion of its active investigation.

She noted that these apprehensions would help "drive the inquiry forward" and enable officials to "investigate more avenues to determine precisely what transpired and who was involved".

"The unlawful tip at the site was an atrocious and deliberate attack on our ecology and the authorities understand the community's anger at this egregious act," she stated.

A government official welcomed the actions, adding: "This unauthorized dumping of garbage at Kidlington is disgraceful and has led to significant harm to the ecology and upset to the surrounding residents.

"Our administration is pledged to eliminating this kind of criminality throughout the nation, by boosting funds to address waste crime, hiring more officers and implementing stricter checks and sanctions for those who break the law."

The apprehensions were executed on a recent Thursday by officers from a specialist crime squad and are in addition to an previous arrest of a man in his thirties from the Guildford area area in the autumn. He was let go awaiting additional inquiries.