The remains of 11 babies were discovered above the ceiling of a funeral parlour in Detroit, police have said.

Construction workers made the discovery on Friday evening as they worked to transform the building into a community centre.

According to the Detroit News, eight bodies were found in a cardboard box and three others in rubbish bags inside a coffin, all concealed in a compartment in the ceiling.

The construction workers called the police, who ordered that the rest of the property be searched.

Local television channel WDIV said the Cantrell Funeral Home on the city’s east side had been shut down in April by state inspectors who had found several violations including decomposing remains, improperly stored bodies and unsanitary conditions.

The inspectors showed up by surprise and were at first denied entry; once inside they found more than minor violations. Bodies from 2017 had been kept in an unrefrigerated garage. Other embalmed bodies that were improperly stored for months were covered with mould.

The inspectors also said that the owners had mishandled funds, and suspended the funeral parlour’s licence.

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The owner, Raymond Cantrell, told Fox 2 Detroit in an April interview that he’d taken over the funeral parlour in 2017 and was doing “a favour to accommodate” customers who couldn’t pay.

“If I had them in the funeral home then my funeral home wouldn’t smell fresh,” Mr Cantrell told Fox. “So yes they are embalmed and serviced [and] we put them in the garage.”