HONG KONG (AFP) - - Hong Kong police said Tuesday they had recovered four bodies outside a village hut where they believe a missing family of four were murdered and buried by a relative.

The police found the bodies -- one male and three females -- after hours of digging at the courtyard of the zinc sheet hut in Ta Kwu Ling, an area near the territory's border with China.

Officers at the scene believed the bodies were those of a man surnamed Tam, his wife and their two young daughters, who were reported missing on Monday, according to broadcaster RTHK.

The police said in a statement a post-mortem examination would be conducted later to confirm the identities of the deceased and the cause of their deaths.

Earlier Tuesday, Superintendent Steve Li told reporters police detected the presence of bodies in a trench about 30 to 40 feet in front of the victims' house, and added there were signs the ground had been dug up and repaved with cement.

The police on Monday arrested a 42-year-old mainland Chinese man, whom reports said was a cousin of Tam, and found bloodstains in the hut.

The reports quoted police sources as saying the man attacked Tam, a clerk at Chinese University, with a knife over a relationship problem. He then tied up Tam's wife and daughters with electric wires and sealed their mouths with tapes.

It is understood that charges will be laid against the suspect on Thursday.