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Two men have been taken into custody as part of an inquiry into the dumping of thousands of tonnes of waste in a rural field in Oxfordshire.

Officials stated that a man in his late sixties was arrested at a residence in Hampshire's Andover, while a man in his fifties was arrested in Slough, Berkshire in association with the enormous pile of waste deposited near the area of Kidlington.

These apprehensions occur a week after a previous revelation which revealed the presence of in excess of 500 illegal tips throughout England, encompassing at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" greater than 20,000 metric tons.

A official for the environmental agency commented that the arrests were for environment-related and financial offences and represented a "key step" in ongoing probes. The two individuals have been released on bail.

Magnitude of the Issue

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

This pile of waste is made up of what seems to be processed residential refuse, fragmented plastic items, expanded polystyrene, tires and various domestic objects.

It is just one of 517 illegal tips across the country, at least 11 of which hold more than 20,000 tonnes of garbage. These include a 280,000-tonne site in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in the county of Kent.

The actual amount of such major locations is likely to be larger, as the regulatory authority has previously stated it does not maintain records on tonnage for every illegal site.

The majority sites are in rural settings, often hidden, and on land that should be farm land.

Organized Enterprise

Law enforcement report a significant number are operated by organised crime gangs, who are earning cash by charging far less than legitimate firms to accept and dispose of waste.

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

Public Frustration

Preparation operations to remove the Kidlington area location began earlier this month following fears over the risk of combustion and the consequences that would have on the nearby highway.

A private waste clearance company has been granted the job to remediate the area over the next 12 months period at a price of £9.6m.

An investigations manager for the national regulatory division stated that the authority would be aiming to claim back the clean-up funds under proceeds of crime acts from anyone successfully found guilty at the conclusion of its current inquiry.

She noted that the recent apprehensions would help "move the investigation forward" and permit officials to "pursue more lines of inquiry to ascertain exactly what transpired and who was a party to it".

"This unlawful tip at this location was an appalling and deliberate attack on our environment and the authorities understand the community's frustration at this egregious act," she stated.

A senior representative welcomed the arrests, stating: "The illegal tipping of garbage at this location is appalling and has caused substantial damage to the ecology and distress to the local population.

"Our administration is pledged to stamping out this kind of criminality throughout the nation, by increasing funds to tackle environmental crime, employing more staff and enacting tougher measures and penalties for those who violate the regulations."

The detentions were carried out on Thursday by agents from a specialist crime squad and come after an prior arrest of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area area in last November. He was let go subject to additional investigations.