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Two men have been detained as an element of an investigation into the dumping of many thousands of tons of refuse in a field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Authorities stated that a 69-year-old was apprehended at a property in Andover, Hampshire, while a man in his fifties was detained in the town of Slough in connection with the enormous heap of rubbish dumped near the area of Kidlington.

These detentions occur a week after a previous revelation which uncovered the operation of more than 500 illegal sites throughout England, including at least 11 so-called "super sites" bigger than 20,000 tonnes.

A official for the environmental agency commented that the arrests were for environmental and money laundering crimes and were a "crucial step" in continuing probes. Both men have been set free on bail.

Magnitude of the Problem

The illegal site in near Kidlington, situated between the river Cherwell and the A34 highway, is believed to contain around 21,000 tons of waste in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) tall.

This pile of garbage is composed of what looks to be sorted domestic rubbish, chopped up plastic materials, polystyrene, tires and various everyday items.

It is just one example of 517 unauthorized tips across England, at minimum 11 of which hold in excess of 20,000 tonnes of garbage. They encompass a 280,000-tonne area in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The actual number of such bigger sites is probably to be higher, as the regulatory authority has earlier indicated it does not hold records on volume for every unlawful tip.

The majority sites are in countryside areas, often hidden, and on land that should be agricultural ground.

Criminal Activity

Authorities state numerous are managed by organised crime gangs, who are making cash by charging much less than legitimate companies to receive and landfill rubbish.

Firms have to incur gate fees to use legitimate landfill sites, based on the amount and category of refuse they are trying to discard, and a waste tax is also applied at just over £126 per tonne.

Local Frustration

Preparation operations to clean up the affected location began recently amid fears over the risk of fire and the impact that would have on the nearby highway.

A private clean-up firm has been given the task to remediate the location over the coming 12 months at a cost of £9.6m.

An enforcement manager for the national environmental crime division stated that the body would be seeking to recover the clearance funds under confiscation laws from anyone found guilty at the conclusion of its active investigation.

She added that these apprehensions would help "move the investigation forward" and enable officials to "investigate more lines of inquiry to ascertain precisely what happened and who was implicated".

"The unauthorized tip at Kidlington was an appalling and deliberate attack on our natural surroundings and the authorities share the local frustration at this egregious crime," she said.

A government representative welcomed the detentions, adding: "The unlawful dumping of rubbish at the site is disgraceful and has caused considerable damage to the natural world and anguish to the nearby community.

"The authorities is committed to eliminating this category of illegal activity in the UK, by boosting resources to tackle waste crime, employing more officers and introducing more severe measures and penalties for those who violate the law."

The detentions were carried out on a recent Thursday by agents from a regional organised crime unit and come after an earlier apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Surrey region in November. He was let go awaiting more investigations.