🔗 Share this article

Two men have been arrested as a component of an investigation into the dumping of many thousands of metric tons of rubbish in a open field in Oxfordshire, England.

Officials reported that a man in his late sixties was apprehended at a property in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was arrested in Slough, Berkshire in association with the massive heap of waste dumped near the area of Kidlington.

These arrests come after a prior revelation which uncovered the operation of in excess of 500 unlawful sites in the country of England, encompassing at least 11 so-called "major sites" larger than 20,000 tonnes.

A official for the environment authorities stated that the detentions were for ecological and proceeds of crime crimes and were a "vital step" in active inquiries. The two individuals have been set free on conditional release.

Scale of the Problem

The tipping ground in Kidlington, located between the river Cherwell and the A34 road, is believed to hold around 21,000 metric tons of refuse in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) in height.

This pile of rubbish is consists of what seems to be sorted residential waste, chopped up plastics, polystyrene, tyres and various domestic objects.

It is just one example of 517 illegal tips in England, at least 11 of which contain more than 20,000 tons of rubbish. These feature a 280,000-tonne site in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne areas in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne dump in Kent.

The actual figure of such bigger locations is expected to be higher, as the regulatory agency has earlier acknowledged it does not maintain data on tonnage for each unauthorized site.

A large proportion of such locations are in rural locations, frequently hidden, and on land that is zoned as agricultural ground.

Organised Operations

Law enforcement say numerous are run by organized crime groups, who are generating money by charging far less than licensed companies to take and dispose of waste.

Businesses have to incur gate fees to use legitimate waste facilities, based on the amount and category of material they are trying to discard, and a disposal levy is also applied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Local Outrage

Preparation work to remove the affected site started in recent weeks amid fears over the threat of blaze and the consequences that would have on the nearby highway.

A private waste clearance firm has been awarded the contract to remediate the site over the next 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An enforcement officer for the national environmental crime unit commented that the authority would be seeking to recoup the remediation costs under asset recovery acts from any individual prosecuted at the end of its ongoing inquiry.

She noted that these apprehensions would help "move the investigation forward" and enable authorities to "pursue more avenues to ascertain precisely what transpired and who was a party to it".

"The illegal tip at Kidlington was an shocking and deliberate affront on our ecology and we empathize with the public's outrage at this horrific offence," she said.

A cabinet minister welcomed the actions, commenting: "This illegal deposit of rubbish at Kidlington is disgraceful and has caused substantial harm to the environment and anguish to the local community.

"Our authorities is dedicated to stamping out this type of crime throughout the UK, by augmenting resources to tackle waste crime, hiring more officers and implementing tougher measures and sanctions for those who break the rules."

The arrests were made on Thursday by officers from a dedicated crime squad and follow an prior detention of a man in his thirties from the Guildford area area in last November. He was let go pending more inquiries.