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Two individuals have been taken into custody as part of an inquiry into the dumping of thousands of tons of rubbish in a open field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Officials indicated that a 69-year-old was arrested at a property in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in the town of Slough in relation with the massive mound of waste tipped near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These apprehensions follow a previous report which revealed the presence of in excess of 500 unlawful tips throughout the country of England, including at minimum 11 so-called "major sites" greater than 20,000 tons.

A spokeswoman for the regulatory agency stated that the arrests were for ecological and financial violations and were a "crucial step" in ongoing investigations. The apprehended men have been released on conditional release.

Size of the Situation

The dump in the Kidlington area, located between the river Cherwell and the A34 highway, is estimated to hold about 21,000 tons of rubbish in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) high.

This heap of rubbish is consists of what appears to be treated domestic waste, chopped up plastic materials, expanded polystyrene, tires and assorted everyday objects.

It constitutes just one of 517 unlawful dumps throughout the country, at minimum 11 of which are estimated to hold over 20,000 tons of rubbish. They feature a 280,000-tonne area in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire county and Cornwall county and a 36,000-tonne tip in Kent.

The actual amount of such larger sites is expected to be greater, as the regulatory authority has earlier acknowledged it does not maintain data on weight for every illegal site.

Most such locations are in countryside locations, frequently hidden, and on land that is intended to be arable land.

Organized Enterprise

Police report a significant number are operated by organised crime gangs, who are generating money by demanding much less than legitimate companies to take and bury garbage.

Businesses have to incur site fees to use legitimate disposal sites, based on the volume and type of refuse they are trying to dispose of, and landfill tax is also charged at just over £126 per metric ton.

Community Frustration

Preparatory operations to clear the affected location commenced recently due to concerns over the threat of blaze and the effect that would have on the nearby highway.

A commercial waste removal firm has been given the job to handle the site over the coming 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An compliance officer for the country's environmental crime unit commented that the body would be looking to recoup the remediation funds under proceeds of crime acts from anyone prosecuted at the termination of its current investigation.

She added that this week's arrests would help "drive the investigation forward" and allow the agency to "pursue more leads to determine in detail what happened and who was a party to it".

"The unlawful tip at Kidlington was an atrocious and deliberate assault on our ecology and we understand the local outrage at this horrific act," she said.

A government official supported the arrests, stating: "The illegal tipping of waste at Kidlington is appalling and has led to considerable detriment to the environment and anguish to the local community.

"The administration is committed to eliminating this category of illegal activity across the country, by augmenting funds to tackle illegal dumping, employing more staff and introducing stricter measures and sanctions for those who break the rules."

The arrests were executed on the specified day by personnel from a dedicated serious crime squad and are in addition to an earlier apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area in last November. He was released pending more enquiries.