🔗 Share this article

Two individuals have been detained as a component of an inquiry into the tipping of several thousand of metric tons of waste in a rural field in Oxfordshire.

Law enforcement stated that a 69-year-old was arrested at a residence in the town of Andover, while a 54-year-old was taken into custody in Slough in connection with the massive heap of garbage tipped near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

These detentions occur a week after a prior investigation which revealed the operation of more than 500 unauthorized tips throughout the country of England, featuring at a minimum of 11 so-called "large-scale sites" greater than 20,000 tons.

A spokeswoman for the environmental authorities stated that the apprehensions were for environmental and proceeds of crime violations and represented a "key step" in active inquiries. Both men have been released on pre-trial release.

Size of the Issue

The tipping ground in the Kidlington area, located between the river Cherwell and the A34 road, is thought to contain approximately 21,000 tons of refuse in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) long and 6m (20ft) in height.

This mound of waste is made up of what seems to be sorted household waste, chopped up plastic materials, Styrofoam, tires and other household objects.

It constitutes just a single of 517 illegal sites in the country, at least 11 of which hold over 20,000 tonnes of rubbish. Such sites include a 280,000-tonne location in the county of Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire county and Cornwall county and a 36,000-tonne site in Kent.

The overall number of such larger dumps is expected to be greater, as the environment authority has in the past acknowledged it does not hold records on tonnage for each unauthorized site.

Most such locations are in countryside settings, frequently hidden, and on land that is zoned as farm land.

Criminal Enterprise

Police state many are run by criminal organizations, who are making cash by asking for significantly less than legitimate operators to accept and dispose of garbage.

Companies have to incur gate fees to use licensed waste facilities, depending on the amount and nature of waste they are trying to discard, and a waste tax is also levied at just over £126 per metric ton.

Community Outrage

Initial work to remove the affected dump commenced recently due to concerns over the potential of combustion and the impact that would have on the close-by A-road.

A private clean-up contractor has been granted the task to deal with the area over the following 12 months at a cost of £9.6m.

An enforcement manager for the country's environmental crime team commented that the authority would be seeking to claim back the clean-up expenses under confiscation acts from any individual successfully convicted at the end of its ongoing investigation.

She added that the recent detentions would help "drive the inquiry forward" and permit the agency to "pursue more lines of inquiry to determine in detail what transpired and who was involved".

"This illegal dump at the site was an shocking and intentional assault on our ecology and officials understand the community's frustration at this terrible act," she remarked.

A senior representative welcomed the detentions, stating: "The unlawful deposit of garbage at this location is utterly appalling and has resulted in considerable harm to the natural world and anguish to the local residents.

"The administration is committed to eradicating this type of criminality throughout the nation, by augmenting funds to tackle environmental crime, hiring more staff and enacting tougher controls and fines for those who break the law."

The arrests were made on the specified day by officers from a regional organised crime unit and are in addition to an previous apprehension of a 39-year-old from the Guildford area in the autumn. He was released awaiting additional enquiries.