An accountant is fuming after being publicly arrested at Bermuda Airport in a case of mistaken identity.

Chris Walter, 26, had just returned from a trip home to England on Sunday when he was pulled aside for a lengthy search of his bags before Police arrived, handcuffed him and bundled him away.

"They said they were arresting me on suspicion of stealing. They took me to the police station at which point it became fairly obvious I wasn't the person they were looking for.

"You would have thought they would have checked before they put handcuffs on.

"Luckily none of my mates were there to see it but God knows if any clients were around," said the PricewaterhouseCoopers auditor.

He said the search and questioning took around an hour but Police did not apologise for the mix-up.

"They said they had to follow these things up to justify it to try to justify holding me in the Police station."

Police were unable to comment at Press time last night.