2 Stolen Muppets Puppets Returned

Ernie and Bert, the purloined puppets, have been returned safe and sound to their fellow Muppets six weeks after they were snatched from an exhibit in eastern Germany.

Police in Weimar returned the pair Thursday to the agency that organized the German tour of 36 original Muppets puppets. Jana Blaschke of the Nordstar agency in Rostock said their authenticity has been confirmed and neither was damaged.

Thieves knocked through a wall and stole the duo from an exhibit Jan. 29 at the Erfurt Garden Show. They also smashed a glass case, trying unsuccessfully to rip Miss Piggy from her display.

The actor who dubs Ernie’s German voice, Gerd Duwner, made a radio appeal a day after the theft for the puppets’ safe return.

The private radio station Antenna Thueringen said it received an anonymous telephone offer Tuesday to return the puppets. A middleman brought them to the station Wednesday, the station said.

The Ernie and Bert puppets, handmade by the Muppets’ late creator Jim Henson, were valued at about $125,000. They will rejoin the other Muppets in Bremen, where the exhibit now is on display, said Blaschke.