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Two men have been taken into custody as part of an probe into the tipping of thousands of tonnes of refuse in a rural field in Oxfordshire, England.

Officials reported that a 69-year-old was arrested at a residence in Andover, Hampshire, while a 54-year-old was detained in Slough in connection with the huge heap of garbage deposited near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These arrests follow a prior investigation which uncovered the existence of over 500 unauthorized dumps throughout the country of England, featuring at least 11 so-called "large-scale sites" larger than 20,000 metric tons.

A spokeswoman for the environmental authorities stated that the apprehensions were for environmental and money laundering violations and constituted a "key step" in active investigations. The apprehended men have been released on conditional release.

Scale of the Issue

The illegal site in near Kidlington, located between the Cherwell River and the A34 road, is believed to house around 21,000 tons of waste in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) in height.

This pile of garbage is consists of what appears to be treated household refuse, shredded plastic items, expanded polystyrene, tyres and assorted everyday items.

It represents just a single of 517 unlawful dumps in England, at least 11 of which are estimated to hold over 20,000 tonnes of waste. Such sites feature a 280,000-tonne location in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The actual number of such major locations is expected to be larger, as the regulatory agency has previously indicated it does not possess data on volume for each unauthorized dump.

The majority sites are in rural areas, typically hidden, and on land that should be agricultural land.

Organised Enterprise

Law enforcement say many are run by criminal organizations, who are generating profit by demanding much less than legitimate firms to accept and landfill garbage.

Companies have to be liable for disposal fees to use lawful landfill sites, contingent on the quantity and category of waste they are trying to get rid of, and landfill tax is also applied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Local Outrage

Initial work to clean up the Kidlington area location commenced in recent weeks following worries over the risk of fire and the impact that would have on the close-by A-road.

A private waste clearance contractor has been given the contract to handle the site over the coming 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An compliance officer for the country's environmental crime division stated that the agency would be looking to recoup the clearance funds under proceeds of crime legislation from any individual ultimately found guilty at the termination of its current inquiry.

She noted that the recent arrests would help "drive the inquiry forward" and allow the agency to "pursue more avenues to ascertain exactly what occurred and who was a party to it".

"This unlawful site at Kidlington was an atrocious and calculated assault on our environment and we empathize with the community's anger at this terrible offence," she stated.

A government minister supported the arrests, stating: "This illegal tipping of waste at this location is utterly appalling and has resulted in considerable detriment to the ecology and distress to the nearby community.

"The administration is dedicated to eradicating this kind of criminality throughout the nation, by augmenting financing to tackle illegal dumping, recruiting more officers and implementing stricter checks and fines for those who flout the rules."

The arrests were made on Thursday by officers from a specialist crime team and come after an prior arrest of a man in his thirties from the Guildford region in November. He was let go subject to additional inquiries.