🔗 Share this article

A pair of individuals have been taken into custody as a component of an inquiry into the illegal deposit of thousands of tonnes of waste in a field in Oxfordshire, England.

Authorities stated that a 69-year-old was arrested at a property in Hampshire's Andover, while a man in his fifties was taken into custody in the town of Slough in connection with the massive pile of rubbish tipped near Kidlington.

These detentions occur a week after a prior revelation which exposed the existence of more than 500 illegal tips across England, including at minimum 11 so-called "major sites" larger than 20,000 metric tons.

A spokeswoman for the environmental body stated that the detentions were for environmental and proceeds of crime offences and represented a "vital step" in continuing investigations. The two individuals have been let go on conditional release.

Magnitude of the Problem

The tipping ground in Kidlington, situated between the Cherwell River and the A34, is believed to contain approximately 21,000 tons of refuse in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) high.

This heap of waste is consists of what seems to be treated residential rubbish, fragmented plastic materials, Styrofoam, automobile tires and various everyday items.

It represents just a single of 517 illegal tips across the country, at minimum 11 of which are estimated to hold more than 20,000 tonnes of garbage. These include a 280,000-tonne site in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne dump in Kent.

The actual number of such major dumps is probably to be greater, as the environment authority has in the past indicated it does not maintain records on weight for all unlawful site.

The majority sites are in rural areas, frequently concealed, and on land that is intended to be arable land.

Organized Activity

Police state many are run by organized crime groups, who are making cash by demanding far less than lawful operators to receive and bury waste.

Companies have to incur gate fees to use licensed disposal sites, depending on the amount and type of waste they are trying to get rid of, and a waste tax is also applied at just over £126 per ton.

Community Frustration

Preparation efforts to clean up the affected dump commenced in recent weeks following fears over the threat of blaze and the impact that would have on the nearby highway.

A commercial waste clearance contractor has been granted the task to deal with the location over the following 12 months at a price of £9.6m.

An enforcement officer for the national environmental crime team said that the authority would be looking to recover the remediation funds under asset recovery acts from anyone ultimately convicted at the termination of its current inquiry.

She further stated that the recent arrests would help "move the inquiry forward" and permit officials to "follow more lines of inquiry to determine in detail what transpired and who was involved".

"This unauthorized tip at this location was an atrocious and calculated assault on our ecology and the authorities share the local outrage at this terrible act," she stated.

A cabinet official supported the arrests, commenting: "This illegal dumping of garbage at this location is appalling and has caused considerable harm to the ecology and upset to the surrounding community.

"Our administration is pledged to eliminating this category of criminality throughout the country, by boosting resources to combat environmental crime, hiring more officers and implementing more severe controls and sanctions for those who flout the law."

The apprehensions were carried out on the specified day by officers from a regional organised crime team and follow an previous arrest of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area in November. He was let go pending further investigations.