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Two individuals have been detained as part of an probe into the illegal deposit of thousands of metric tons of rubbish in a field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Law enforcement reported that a 69-year-old was arrested at a property in the town of Andover, while a man in his fifties was taken into custody in Slough in association with the enormous pile of rubbish tipped near Kidlington.

These detentions occur a week after a recent revelation which revealed the presence of more than 500 unauthorized sites across England, featuring at least 11 so-called "large-scale sites" larger than 20,000 tons.

A spokeswoman for the environment authorities commented that the detentions were for environmental and money laundering crimes and represented a "key step" in active inquiries. The two individuals have been set free on conditional release.

Scale of the Problem

The illegal site in the Kidlington area, situated between the River Cherwell and the A34 road, is estimated to contain approximately 21,000 metric tons of refuse in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) tall.

This mound of waste is consists of what looks to be treated domestic rubbish, shredded plastics, polystyrene, automobile tires and various domestic objects.

It constitutes just one example of 517 unlawful sites in the country, at a minimum of 11 of which hold more than 20,000 tons of waste. They include a 280,000-tonne location in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire and Cornwall county and a 36,000-tonne tip in Kent.

The actual amount of such major dumps is expected to be larger, as the environment authority has earlier acknowledged it does not maintain data on weight for all unlawful dump.

A large proportion of these sites are in agricultural areas, often concealed, and on land that is zoned as arable land.

Organized Activity

Law enforcement say numerous are operated by organised crime gangs, who are earning profit by demanding much less than licensed firms to take and landfill garbage.

Companies have to be liable for disposal fees to use lawful waste facilities, depending on the quantity and type of waste they are trying to get rid of, and landfill tax is also levied at just over £126 per tonne.

Community Frustration

Initial work to remove the affected dump commenced in recent weeks following concerns over the potential of blaze and the effect that would have on the nearby major road.

A commercial clean-up firm has been granted the job to deal with the site over the coming 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An investigations manager for the national environmental crime unit said that the agency would be seeking to recoup the remediation funds under confiscation laws from any party prosecuted at the end of its active case.

She added that this week's detentions would help "move the investigation forward" and permit authorities to "follow more avenues to understand in detail what occurred and who was a party to it".

"This illegal tip at this location was an appalling and deliberate assault on our ecology and we empathize with the public's frustration at this egregious offence," she stated.

A senior minister supported the detentions, adding: "This illegal deposit of waste at the site is disgraceful and has led to significant damage to the ecology and anguish to the nearby residents.

"The administration is pledged to stamping out this kind of crime throughout the country, by boosting funds to address environmental crime, recruiting more personnel and implementing tougher checks and sanctions for those who break the rules."

The detentions were executed on a recent Thursday by agents from a specialist organised crime squad and come after an previous apprehension of a man in his thirties from the Surrey region in last November. He was let go pending more inquiries.