Police in Australia were digging up a rural property on Tuesday searching for what reports said were “multiple babies” in secret graves.

Officers swooped on a house near Gin Gin, 370 kilometres (230 miles) northwest of Brisbane, after a tip-off that children were born and their bodies hidden on the property by the same family in the 1990s and early 2000s.

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“I can confirm we are conducting investigations into information received regarding allegations a number of child births have been concealed on the property,” said cold case homicide Detective Inspector Mick Dowie.

“We will be interviewing a number of persons who may also be able to assist with our investigations over the coming days.”

He would not say how many children might have been born and buried there although the Brisbane Courier-Mail newspaper referred to “multiple babies in secret graves”.

“There’s one family involved,” Dowie added, without saying whether they were cooperating with police.

“You can draw your own conclusions from the fact that we’re doing an excavation.”

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Given the potential remains are more than a decade old and tiny, he said the excavation process was “meticulous”.

Gin Gin councillor Wayne Honor said the small community, with a population of less than 1,000, was in shock.

“We just hope (police) can come to an outcome that is going to give and let our community come to a little bit of peace,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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[Image via Agence France-Presse]