Michigan men chose 'wrong place' to tinker with camcorder

Two Dearborn, Michigan men picked the wrong place to try fix their jammed camcorder, says Detroit Homeland Security chief Shelby Slater.

Based on an Associated Press report, SooToday News reported Monday that the two men were arrested after they were seen videotaping the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit around 10 p.m. Sunday.

A small quantity of dynamite was found in their car, together with immigration papers, shotgun shells and a collapsible baton similar to that issued to police, AP said.

However, the rival UPI news service is now quoting Slater as saying that the men were not actually videotaping as first thought, but had just bought a new camcorder, tested it in a Detroit neighbourhood, had it jam, and stopped near the bridge to fiddle with it.

"They stopped in the wrong place," Slater told UPI.

The men were initially held on felony charges of possession of a dangerous weapon related to the baton, but those charges are expected to be dropped and replaced by tickets, Slater said.

"What this does more than anything else is [demonstrate] how effective homeland security efforts are in the city of Detroit," Slater told UPI. "There has been a big emphasis on water and port security."