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Two individuals have been taken into custody as an element of an probe into the tipping of several thousand of metric tons of refuse in a rural field in Oxfordshire, England.

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 association with the enormous heap of rubbish tipped near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These detentions follow a prior revelation which revealed the existence of more than 500 illegal sites in the country of England, including at a minimum of 11 so-called "super sites" larger than 20,000 tons.

A official for the environmental body stated that the detentions were for environment-related and proceeds of crime violations and were a "key step" in continuing probes. Both men have been set free on bail.

Scale of the Problem

The tipping ground in the Kidlington area, located between the River Cherwell and the A34, is estimated to hold about 21,000 metric tons of refuse in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) lengthwise and 6m (20ft) tall.

This heap of waste is composed of what looks to be treated domestic rubbish, fragmented plastic items, Styrofoam, tires and various domestic items.

It is just one of 517 illegal tips in England, at least 11 of which are estimated to hold over 20,000 tons of garbage. They feature a 280,000-tonne site in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne dump in the county of Kent.

The total number of such larger locations is probably to be larger, as the environment agency has earlier stated it does not maintain data on volume for every unauthorized dump.

The majority sites are in agricultural areas, typically hidden, and on land that should be farm land.

Organised Activity

Police state many are managed by organized crime groups, who are generating cash by demanding significantly less than lawful companies to take and dispose of rubbish.

Companies have to incur disposal fees to use legitimate landfill sites, contingent on the volume and category of refuse they are trying to discard, and landfill tax is also applied at just over £126 per tonne.

Community Outrage

Initial efforts to clear the Kidlington area site started earlier this month amid concerns over the potential of combustion and the effect that would have on the adjacent major road.

A private waste removal contractor has been awarded the task to deal with the location over the following 12 months at a cost of £9.6m.

An investigations official for the country's environmental crime division commented that the body would be seeking to recover the remediation costs under proceeds of crime legislation from any individual found guilty at the termination of its active investigation.

She added that these apprehensions would help "move the inquiry forward" and enable authorities to "pursue more lines of inquiry to ascertain exactly what occurred and who was involved".

"This unauthorized site at Kidlington was an atrocious and intentional affront on our ecology and the authorities empathize with the community's outrage at this egregious act," she said.

A government minister supported the arrests, stating: "This unauthorized dumping of waste at Kidlington is disgraceful and has caused substantial harm to the natural world and anguish to the nearby population.

"Our administration is pledged to eradicating this category of criminality across the country, by boosting resources to tackle waste crime, recruiting more personnel and introducing tougher controls and sanctions for those who break the rules."

The apprehensions were executed on Thursday by personnel from a specialist organised crime team and are in addition to an earlier apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area area in November. He was set free subject to additional enquiries.