Madrid - A Spanish man spent five days in prison after being mistaken for a criminal suspect with a similar surname, the daily El Pais reported Friday.

Juan Enrique T. was spending his Easter holidays in the southern city of Granada when police showed up at the door of his hotel room early one morning.

The 30-year-old was ordered to get dressed, was handcuffed, arrested on charges of money-laundering, taken to a police station, and then to a cold prison cell measuring
10 square metres, where he tried in vain to protest his innocence.

"That is what they all say," prison employees answered.

The real suspect, however, was already jailed in the eastern city of Castellon.

The judicial error was finally discovered, and the Interior Ministry is investigating it.

Every time Juan Enrique now sees a police officer, he goes the other way. The man is on sick leave for depression, the daily said.(dpa)