Arrests Made in Link to Supersized Illegal Waste Site
Two men have been detained as a component of an probe into the dumping of many thousands of metric tons of refuse in a field in the county of Oxfordshire.
Authorities reported that a 69-year-old was apprehended at a residence in Andover, Hampshire, while a man in his fifties was taken into custody in Slough in association with the massive heap of garbage tipped near Kidlington.
These apprehensions come after a recent investigation which uncovered the presence of in excess of 500 illegal tips across England, featuring at minimum 11 so-called "super sites" bigger than 20,000 tonnes.
A spokeswoman for the environment authorities said that the arrests were for environment-related and proceeds of crime offences and were a "key step" in ongoing probes. The apprehended men have been set free on pre-trial release.
Size of the Situation
The illegal site in Kidlington, positioned between the Cherwell River and the A34 road, is believed to contain around 21,000 tonnes of refuse in a mound which is up to 150m (490ft) lengthwise and 6m (20ft) tall.
This pile of rubbish is made up of what seems to be treated household refuse, shredded plastics, expanded polystyrene, tires and other domestic objects.
It represents just one of 517 unlawful sites in England, at minimum 11 of which contain in excess of 20,000 tonnes of rubbish. These include a 280,000-tonne site in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne locations in Lancashire and Cornwall and a 36,000-tonne dump in the county of Kent.
The actual number of such bigger sites is probably to be larger, as the environment authority has earlier acknowledged it does not maintain data on weight for each unauthorized site.
A large proportion of such locations are in agricultural settings, often out of sight, and on land that is intended to be farm property.
Criminal Operations
Police report many are run by criminal organizations, who are earning money by asking for much less than lawful operators to accept and bury rubbish.
Firms have to pay disposal fees to use lawful waste facilities, based on the amount and type of material they are trying to get rid of, and landfill tax is also charged at just over £126 per tonne.
Community Frustration
Preparatory efforts to clean up the Kidlington area dump started in recent weeks amid concerns over the threat of blaze and the effect that would have on the close-by highway.
A private clean-up company has been awarded the job to deal with the site over the following 12 months at a expense of £9.6m.
An investigations officer for the country's environmental crime division said that the body would be seeking to claim back the clearance funds under asset recovery legislation from anyone ultimately prosecuted at the termination of its current case.
She noted that the recent apprehensions would help "drive the inquiry forward" and enable authorities to "follow more avenues to determine precisely what occurred and who was involved".
"The unlawful site at this location was an shocking and calculated affront on our ecology and we understand the community's anger at this terrible act," she stated.
A senior minister supported the detentions, commenting: "This illegal dumping of rubbish at this location is utterly appalling and has led to considerable harm to the environment and upset to the nearby community.
"Our government is pledged to eliminating this kind of criminality throughout the nation, by augmenting funds to address illegal dumping, recruiting more officers and enacting stricter measures and fines for those who break the regulations."
The arrests were carried out on the specified day by agents from a specialist serious crime unit and follow an previous detention of a man in his thirties from the Guildford area in last November. He was let go awaiting further inquiries.
