MANHATTAN (CN) - Federal prosecutors have seized two brass eagles that were stolen 30 years ago from the City Employees War Memorial in Central. The eagles were designed by Georg John Lober (1892-1961) who also designed the statue of Hans Christian Andersen in Central Park.
The sculptures, dedicated in 1926 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, overlooked a scene of drug dealing and were used to hide drugs and drug money until someone stole them during the 1970s, prosecutors said.
After the eagles were stolen, sometime in the 1970s, they were stored at a private residence until they were sold to someone with an office in New York City, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Federal agents recently were tipped off about the eagles, and they obtained a warrant to seize them as "property used as a contained for controlled substances and as appurtenances to land used to facilitate controlled substances violations," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The eagles will be returned to the City of New York.
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