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

Law enforcement stated that a 69-year-old was arrested at a property in the town of Andover, while a 54-year-old was detained in Slough, Berkshire in relation with the massive mound of garbage deposited near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These apprehensions follow a previous report which revealed the presence of over 500 unauthorized sites throughout England, including at minimum 11 so-called "super sites" bigger than 20,000 tonnes.

A spokeswoman for the environmental authorities said that the detentions were for environment-related and financial offences and constituted a "vital step" in active probes. Both men have been set free on pre-trial release.

Scale of the Issue

The illegal site in near Kidlington, situated between the river Cherwell and the A34 highway, is estimated to hold around 21,000 metric tons of refuse in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) tall.

This mound of rubbish is consists of what appears to be processed residential waste, shredded plastic materials, polystyrene, tyres and other domestic objects.

It represents just one of 517 unauthorized tips across the country, at a minimum of 11 of which contain more than 20,000 tons of rubbish. These encompass a 280,000-tonne site in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire county and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne dump in Kent.

The overall number of such larger sites is likely to be larger, as the environment agency has previously acknowledged it does not possess records on tonnage for each illegal tip.

The majority sites are in countryside settings, often concealed, and on land that is intended to be farm ground.

Criminal Operations

Authorities report a significant number are run by criminal organizations, who are making profit by asking for much less than lawful companies to receive and dispose of waste.

Companies have to incur gate fees to use legitimate disposal sites, depending on the amount and nature of waste they are trying to get rid of, and landfill tax is also applied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Community Frustration

Initial operations to clear the affected dump began in recent weeks following fears over the potential of fire and the effect that would have on the adjacent A-road.

A commercial waste clearance contractor has been granted the task to remediate the location over the following 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An compliance officer for the government environmental crime unit said that the body would be aiming to claim back the clearance costs under asset recovery acts from anyone prosecuted at the end of its active case.

She further stated that this week's apprehensions would help "push the probe forward" and allow officials to "pursue more leads to determine in detail what happened and who was involved".

"The illegal tip at Kidlington was an atrocious and deliberate affront on our environment and we share the public's frustration at this egregious act," she remarked.

A senior representative welcomed the actions, commenting: "This unauthorized deposit of waste at this location is appalling and has led to significant harm to the ecology and upset to the local population.

"The government is pledged to eradicating this kind of criminality throughout the UK, by augmenting resources to tackle waste crime, recruiting more personnel and introducing stricter checks and penalties for those who violate the law."

The apprehensions were executed on a recent Thursday by agents from a dedicated crime squad and are in addition to an earlier detention of a 39-year-old from the Guildford region in November. He was set free pending additional investigations.