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Two individuals have been detained as an element of an inquiry into the tipping of thousands of tonnes of rubbish in a field in Oxfordshire, England.

Authorities stated that a man in his late sixties was arrested at a property in Andover, Hampshire, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in Slough in association with the huge mound of waste tipped near Kidlington.

These detentions come after a prior report which revealed the existence of more than 500 illegal tips across England, featuring at a minimum of 11 so-called "super sites" bigger than 20,000 tons.

A official for the environment authorities commented that the apprehensions were for environmental and money laundering crimes and represented a "key step" in ongoing investigations. The apprehended men have been set free on conditional release.

Size of the Situation

The tipping ground in the Kidlington area, situated between the river Cherwell and the A34 highway, is thought to hold around 21,000 tons of waste in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) tall.

This mound of waste is made up of what appears to be treated domestic refuse, shredded plastics, polystyrene, tires and assorted domestic articles.

It constitutes just a single of 517 unlawful sites in the country, at a minimum of 11 of which are estimated to hold in excess of 20,000 metric tons of rubbish. They feature 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 site in Kent.

The overall figure of such larger locations is likely to be higher, as the regulatory authority has previously indicated it does not hold data on weight for all unlawful site.

The majority such locations are in rural locations, often out of sight, and on land that is intended to be arable property.

Criminal Operations

Law enforcement state many are managed by criminal organizations, who are earning money by demanding significantly less than lawful firms to accept and dispose of rubbish.

Companies have to pay gate fees to use legitimate landfill sites, depending on the amount and nature of material they are trying to discard, and a waste tax is also levied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Local Outrage

Initial work to clear the Kidlington location commenced earlier this month amid concerns over the risk of combustion and the impact that would have on the nearby major road.

A private clean-up firm has been awarded the job to remediate the area over the following 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An enforcement official for the country's environment unit said that the agency would be looking to claim back the remediation costs under confiscation acts from any individual successfully convicted at the end of its ongoing case.

She further stated that the recent detentions would help "push the probe forward" and allow officials to "investigate more avenues to understand precisely what happened and who was a party to it".

"The unauthorized dump at this location was an atrocious and deliberate affront on our ecology and officials empathize with the public's frustration at this horrific offence," she said.

A senior minister supported the actions, commenting: "The illegal deposit of rubbish at Kidlington is appalling and has led to substantial detriment to the natural world and anguish to the surrounding residents.

"The government is dedicated to stamping out this type of criminality across the nation, by increasing resources to tackle waste crime, employing more staff and implementing stricter checks and penalties for those who break the law."

The detentions were executed on Thursday by officers from a regional crime unit and come after an previous arrest of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area region in the autumn. He was let go awaiting more investigations.