The in situ generated aryl–alkyl unsymmetrical thiourea obtained by the reaction of an aryl isothiocyanate with an aliphatic secondary amine on treatment with bromine or its equivalent gave exclusively a product having a thioamido guanidino moiety and not the expected Hugerschoff product 2-aminobenzothiazole. A plausible reaction mechanism has been proposed for this unprecedented transformation and the scope has been extended to various substrates.