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Two individuals have been taken into custody as a component of an probe into the dumping of several thousand of metric tons of rubbish in a open field in the county of Oxfordshire.

Officials reported that a 69-year-old was apprehended at a property in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in the town of Slough in relation with the enormous pile of rubbish deposited near Kidlington.

These detentions occur a week after a previous revelation which exposed the existence of in excess of 500 unlawful sites throughout the country of England, featuring at minimum 11 so-called "large-scale sites" bigger than 20,000 metric tons.

A spokeswoman for the environmental agency commented that the apprehensions were for ecological and financial violations and were a "key step" in ongoing investigations. The two individuals have been released on conditional release.

Size of the Issue

The illegal site in Kidlington, positioned between the river Cherwell and the A34 road, is believed to hold about 21,000 tons of rubbish in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) high.

This pile of rubbish is consists of what looks to be sorted domestic refuse, chopped up plastics, expanded polystyrene, tyres and assorted everyday articles.

It is just one of 517 illegal sites in England, at minimum 11 of which hold in excess of 20,000 metric tons of garbage. Such sites feature a 280,000-tonne location in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire county and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The actual figure of such bigger locations is expected to be larger, as the regulatory agency has in the past indicated it does not hold data on volume for all unauthorized dump.

A large proportion of these sites are in rural areas, frequently out of sight, and on land that is zoned as arable ground.

Criminal Operations

Police state a significant number are managed by organized crime groups, who are generating profit by asking for far less than legitimate operators to take and landfill garbage.

Companies have to incur gate fees to use lawful landfill sites, depending on the quantity and category of material they are trying to get rid of, and a disposal levy is also applied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Public Anger

Initial operations to clear the Kidlington area location started recently amid fears over the risk of combustion and the consequences that would have on the close-by major road.

A contracted clean-up company has been given the contract to remediate the location over the coming 12 months at a expense of £9.6m.

An enforcement officer for the national environmental crime division stated that the agency would be looking to recoup the remediation funds under asset recovery acts from any party found guilty at the end of its current case.

She further stated that the recent arrests would help "move the investigation forward" and permit the agency to "pursue more leads to ascertain exactly what transpired and who was involved".

"The unauthorized dump at this location was an appalling and calculated attack on our environment and officials share the local outrage at this horrific act," she said.

A government official welcomed the actions, adding: "This unauthorized deposit of waste at the site is disgraceful and has resulted in significant damage to the natural world and distress to the surrounding residents.

"The authorities is committed to eliminating this kind of criminality across the UK, by boosting funds to tackle environmental crime, recruiting more officers and enacting more severe controls and sanctions for those who flout the regulations."

The detentions were made on the specified day by agents from a specialist crime unit and follow an earlier apprehension of a man in his thirties from the Surrey region in last November. He was set free subject to additional enquiries.