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Two individuals have been taken into custody as an element of an probe into the dumping of thousands of tons of waste in a field in Oxfordshire, England.

Officials reported that a man in his late sixties was arrested at a property in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was detained in Slough in association with the enormous heap of rubbish dumped near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These detentions occur a week after a previous report which revealed the operation of in excess of 500 unauthorized tips across the country of England, including at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" larger than 20,000 tons.

A official for the environment agency stated that the apprehensions were for environmental and money laundering violations and constituted a "key step" in continuing inquiries. The two individuals have been set free on pre-trial release.

Size of the Issue

The tipping ground in the Kidlington area, positioned between the river Cherwell and the A34 highway, is thought to contain about 21,000 tons of rubbish in a heap which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) tall.

This mound of waste is consists of what looks to be sorted domestic rubbish, shredded plastic items, expanded polystyrene, automobile tires and various everyday objects.

It constitutes just a single of 517 illegal tips in England, at minimum 11 of which are estimated to hold over 20,000 tons of rubbish. They include a 280,000-tonne area in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne tip in the county of Kent.

The actual number of such larger locations is probably to be larger, as the environmental body has previously indicated it does not hold information on tonnage for all illegal dump.

The majority these sites are in agricultural settings, typically hidden, and on land that is zoned as arable ground.

Criminal Operations

Law enforcement state numerous are operated by criminal organizations, who are generating cash by demanding far less than lawful companies to receive and landfill rubbish.

Businesses have to be liable for disposal fees to use lawful waste facilities, based on the quantity and type of waste they are trying to get rid of, and a waste tax is also charged at just over £126 per metric ton.

Public Anger

Initial efforts to clean up the affected dump started earlier this month due to fears over the potential of blaze and the impact that would have on the nearby major road.

A commercial clean-up contractor has been awarded the contract to remediate the area over the coming 12 months at a expense of £9.6m.

An compliance officer for the country's environmental crime unit stated that the body would be looking to claim back the clearance funds under proceeds of crime legislation from anyone prosecuted at the end of its active case.

She added that the recent arrests would help "push the probe forward" and permit officials to "pursue more lines of inquiry to determine in detail what occurred and who was a party to it".

"This unlawful site at the site was an appalling and intentional affront on our environment and we understand the community's outrage at this terrible act," she stated.

A cabinet official supported the actions, stating: "The unauthorized deposit of waste at Kidlington is appalling and has resulted in considerable harm to the natural world and anguish to the surrounding population.

"Our government is pledged to stamping out this kind of criminality across the UK, by augmenting resources to address waste crime, recruiting more staff and enacting more severe checks and fines for those who break the law."

The detentions were carried out on the specified day by officers from a regional organised crime team and are in addition to an prior apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Surrey area in November. He was let go pending further investigations.