The discovery came during a week-long effort to relocate 137 tigers from the tourist site in Kanchanaburi province.

The "Tiger Temple" operators have been accused of wildlife trafficking, animal abuse and illegally possessing carcasses and endangered species.

They deny all allegations and resisted previous attempts to remove the tigers.

The tiger cub corpses were found in a freezer at the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua temple complex on Wednesday, along with body parts from other animals.

Police Col Bandith Meungsukhum told AFP the cubs would have been one or two days old, but it was not clear how long they had been dead.

They will be DNA tested to see whether they were related to other tigers at the site.

National parks official Adisorn Noochdumrong said a keeper had been "told to place the carcasses when they died in cold storage".

(BBC News)