Summary:
Two flags stolen from the Brooklyn Bridge and replaced with white ones by two German artists last month have been handed back to the United States.

Full article:
By . Steve Hopkins for MailOnline . Two American flags swiped from the Brooklyn Bridge and replaced with white ones have been handed back to U.S officials. New York Police Department spokesman Sergeant Carlos Nieves today said that the flags are in the United States, but he did not know their exact location. It is understood the flags had been given to U.S embassy officials in Germany. Scroll down for video . The American flgas swiped from the Brooklyn Bridge last month and replaced with white ones, seen above, have been returned to the U.S after being given to embassy officials in Germany . German artists, Mattias Wermke, 35, left, and Mischa Leinkauf, 37, claimed responsibility for the stunt . Police are yet to decide on whether to charge Berlin-based Mischa Leinkauf, 37, and Mattias Wermke, 35, who claimed responsibility for the July 22 stunt. And they are still seeking the men's American accomplices and are said to have 'significant leads'. The artists replaced the flags on top of the bridge with white flags they had hand-stitched stars and stripes onto. They said the flag switch was intended as a celebration of public art rather than a political statement. It was also a celebration of the bridge and to mark the 145th anniversary of the death of its German-born engineer, John Augustus Roebling.