An object handed in to Florida police and identified as a surface-to-air missile launcher was actually a carrying case for an anti-tank weapon.

Police in Orlando were initially quoted as saying the object was a launcher - a story carried by media organisations, among them the BBC News website.

But it was in fact a case for a TOW - a "tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided missile", experts say.

The man who handed it under a gun amnesty was given a pair of trainers.

He told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper he found the 4ft (1.2m) object while tearing down a shed.

He handed it in on 17 August.

Orlando police were running a no-questions-asked scheme called "Kicks for Guns" where anyone surrendering a firearm would get trainers or $50 (£25).





