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Two men have been arrested as an element of an inquiry into the tipping of several thousand of metric tons of rubbish in a rural field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Law enforcement indicated that a 69-year-old was apprehended at a dwelling in Andover, Hampshire, while a 54-year-old was detained in Slough in connection with the huge heap of rubbish tipped near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These apprehensions come after a prior investigation which exposed the operation of over 500 illegal tips across England, featuring at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" larger than 20,000 metric tons.

A spokeswoman for the regulatory authorities said that the detentions were for environment-related and financial offences and represented a "crucial step" in continuing investigations. Both men have been set free on pre-trial release.

Scale of the Problem

The tipping ground in the Kidlington area, positioned between the Cherwell River and the A34, is thought to house about 21,000 tons of rubbish in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) tall.

This heap of garbage is consists of what seems to be treated domestic waste, shredded plastic materials, Styrofoam, automobile tires and various everyday articles.

It constitutes just one of 517 unauthorized sites throughout the country, at minimum 11 of which hold in excess of 20,000 tonnes of garbage. They include a 280,000-tonne location in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The total amount of such major dumps is probably to be larger, as the environmental agency has in the past stated it does not maintain records on tonnage for all unlawful tip.

A large proportion of such locations are in rural settings, typically hidden, and on land that is intended to be arable property.

Organised Activity

Law enforcement say a significant number are run by organised crime gangs, who are generating profit by demanding significantly less than licensed companies to receive and landfill rubbish.

Firms have to pay gate fees to use lawful waste facilities, contingent on the volume and category of refuse they are trying to discard, and a waste tax is also levied at just over £126 per ton.

Community Anger

Initial operations to remove the Kidlington site started earlier this month following fears over the potential of combustion and the consequences that would have on the close-by highway.

A commercial waste clearance firm has been awarded the task to handle the location over the next 12 months at a expense of £9.6m.

An enforcement officer for the country's environmental crime team stated that the body would be seeking to claim back the clean-up funds under confiscation acts from anyone found guilty at the end of its ongoing investigation.

She added that these detentions would help "drive the probe forward" and enable officials to "follow more avenues to ascertain exactly what occurred and who was involved".

"The unlawful tip at Kidlington was an atrocious and deliberate affront on our natural surroundings and the authorities empathize with the local outrage at this egregious crime," she remarked.

A government representative praised the arrests, stating: "The unauthorized dumping of waste at Kidlington is utterly appalling and has resulted in considerable harm to the ecology and anguish to the nearby population.

"The authorities is committed to eradicating this category of criminality in the nation, by increasing financing to address environmental crime, recruiting more officers and implementing more severe controls and fines for those who flout the regulations."

The apprehensions were made on Thursday by officers from a specialist organised crime team and follow an prior detention of a 39-year-old from the Surrey region in the autumn. He was set free awaiting more inquiries.