Call it the case of the purloined Picassos. A moving contractor, Nahum Kohen, and his mother-inlaw, Ori Lellouch, have been arrested on charges relating to the alleged theft of two Picasso drawings from the Upper East Side apartment of enigmatic collector William Kingsland.

The New York City Department of Investigation, which announced the arrests yesterday, began an investigation in June after it was told by the New York County public administrator that the drawings were missing from Kingsland’s apartment and presumed stolen.

Mr. Kohen, a resident of Fresh Meadows, was charged with two class C felonies, grand larceny in the second degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree. Ms. Lellouch, a resident of Kew Gardens Hills, was charged with a class A misdemeanor, criminal possession of stolen property. Mr. Kohen and Ms. Lellouch could not be reached by press time.

The commissioner of DOI, Rose Gill Hearn, told The New York Sun that the drawings would be held as evidence in the case. They are about 12 inches by 12 inches, and have a combined value of about $60,000.

The Picassos add another layer of intrigue to an estate already under investigation. The FBI has been seeking leads on stolen works found in the estate, including a bust by Giacometti, two Fairfield Porter paintings, and at least two works belonging to Harvard, including a John Singleton Copley.

“It’s quite a tale,” proprietor of Stair Galleries, Colin Stair, told the Sun. He recalled that by the time he visited Kingsland’s “chock a block full” apartment this summer, authorities were already looking into the missing Picassos. Paintings lay six deep against the wall, he said, and this was after the apartment had been neatened and organized.

Kingsland, born Melvyn Kohn, died intestate last March.

The public administrator had hired a consultant to photograph Kingsland’s estate to help market the works for sale. Ms. Hearn said that when an auction house subsequently inquired about the Picassos that had been photographed, “Lo and behold, they weren’t there.”

Ms. Hearn said Mr. Kohen was in Kingsland’s apartment several times in May. As a subcontractor for Liberty Movers, Mr. Kohen was hired to move Kingsland’s less valuable works to a warehouse where they would later be offered for sale at public auction.

FBI agents learned in November that a Manhattan-based art broker had attempted to sell one of the Picasso drawings to auction houses. The agents found that the broker had gotten the drawing from Ms. Lellouch, and subsequently retrieved both Picassos from her.

DOI investigators ascertained that Ms. Lellouch’s adult daughter is married to Mr. Kohen. The office of the New York County district attorney, which is prosecuting the case, did not respond to the Sun by press time.

Mr. Stair said Kingsland definitely had a good eye. “He knew how to pick quality works, however he picked them.”

Author Barnaby Conrad, who said Kingsland acted slightly annoyed that the 20th century had ever happened, said he was a bit surprised Kingsland had 20th-century art at all. “I sort of thought he would have stopped at the Luminists,” 19th-century landscape painters, he said.