Human Remains Found During Search Of Wooded Area On Long Island

ROOSEVELT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A set of human remains have been found during a search of a wooded area on Long Island, authorities said.

Authorities began searching an area of Roosevelt for remains on Wednesday night after Homeland Security officials received a tip from a person of interest in a federal investigation.

"We've done an extensive slow search of that site and what we have found are human remains, these human remains have been identified as a male," Detective Lt. Steven Fitzpatrick said during a news conference Friday afternoon. "We don't know who this person is right now, so we don't know anything about his past or who he's associated with. So this investigation is very early on."

Nassau County Homicide detectives, the Department of Homeland Security, the Homeland Security Investigations team, the Long Island Gang Task Force and New York State Police K-9 units are all involved in the search which is being conducted in an overgrown area spanning 27 acres.

The search for possibly more remains is continuing.

"The process is slow due to the terrain and the growth," Fitzpatrick said. "It's a big area, the terrain is kind of treacherous in certain spots in fact one of our detectives broke his ankle back there yesterday."

Sources told CBS2 the search is linked to a possible homicide by the MS-13 gang.

There have been six MS-13 murder victims in Nassau County in the last two years and almost 20 victims in neighboring Suffolk County.

It is unclear if there's an MS-13 connection to this case.

President Donald Trump visited Long Island back on July 28 and promised a crackdown on the MS-13 gang.