US flags stolen from Brooklyn Bridge back on US soil

The white flag that flew atop the west tower of the Brooklyn Bridge on July 22 Photo: AP

The American flags that were stolen from the top of the Brooklyn Bridge are now on US soil and may already be in NYPD headquarters, from where they will be sent off for testing,  police sources said.
The exact location of the flags was still unknown, but they were en route to One Police Plaza, where standard tests will be run for precautionary reasons, the sources said.
The US Embassy in Germany is considered US soil, so the flags could still be there, and it wasn’t immediately clear what time they would be handed over to police at NYPD headquarters.
The two flags were transferred to the US Embassy in Berlin, where artists Mischa Leinkauf and Matthias Wermke flew after they performed the daring feat, according to law enforcement sources.
The pair claim they simply wanted to “show the beauty of public space” when they spooked the city by removing the flags and planting mysterious white banners on the bridge instead.
The duo told The New York Times that they wanted to pay homage to famed German-born engineer John Roebling, who designed the bridge, by planting the flags on July 22, the anniversary of his death in 1869.