Arrests Made in Connection to Massive Illegal Rubbish Dump
A pair of individuals have been arrested as a component of an probe into the illegal deposit of several thousand of metric tons of waste in a field in Oxfordshire.
Authorities indicated that a man in his late sixties was detained at a residence in Hampshire's Andover, while a 54-year-old was detained in Slough, Berkshire in relation with the enormous heap of rubbish deposited near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
These detentions come after a previous report which exposed the operation of in excess of 500 unauthorized dumps across England, featuring at least 11 so-called "super sites" greater than 20,000 metric tons.
A official for the regulatory agency stated that the arrests were for environment-related and financial crimes and represented a "vital step" in active probes. The two individuals have been set free on pre-trial release.
Scale of the Problem
The dump in Kidlington, located between the river Cherwell and the A34, is thought to house around 21,000 metric tons of rubbish in a pile which is up to 150m (490ft) in length and 6m (20ft) tall.
This pile of rubbish is consists of what appears to be sorted household waste, chopped up plastic materials, polystyrene, tires and other domestic articles.
It constitutes just a single of 517 illegal sites throughout England, at minimum 11 of which contain over 20,000 tonnes of waste. Such sites include a 280,000-tonne location in Cheshire, two 50,000-tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall county and a 36,000-tonne dump in Kent.
The overall figure of such larger dumps is expected to be greater, as the environmental agency has previously acknowledged it does not possess information on weight for all unlawful tip.
Most such locations are in countryside areas, frequently concealed, and on land that should be agricultural ground.
Criminal Operations
Police state many are managed by organized crime groups, who are making money by demanding significantly less than licensed firms to receive and landfill waste.
Firms have to pay disposal fees to use legitimate disposal sites, based on the volume and type of waste they are trying to dispose of, and a disposal levy is also levied at just over £126 per tonne.
Local Anger
Preparation work to clean up the Kidlington site started recently following concerns over the threat of combustion and the effect that would have on the close-by major road.
A private waste removal firm has been awarded the task to remediate the area over the next 12 months at a expense of £9.6m.
An compliance official for the country's environment team said that the agency would be looking to recoup the remediation expenses under confiscation acts from anyone successfully convicted at the termination of its current inquiry.
She added that this week's arrests would help "push the investigation forward" and permit officials to "investigate more leads to ascertain in detail what happened and who was implicated".
"The unauthorized site at this location was an appalling and deliberate attack on our natural surroundings and the authorities empathize with the community's outrage at this egregious crime," she said.
A government minister welcomed the arrests, commenting: "The illegal deposit of rubbish at Kidlington is appalling and has resulted in considerable damage to the environment and upset to the local community.
"Our authorities is committed to stamping out this category of criminality in the nation, by boosting resources to combat environmental crime, hiring more staff and introducing more severe measures and fines for those who break the regulations."
The detentions were carried out on the specified day by agents from a regional serious crime team and follow an prior arrest of a 39-year-old from the Surrey area in the autumn. He was let go pending additional investigations.
