This is the shocking moment an airport security officer is caught on camera stealing a bundle of cash from an 89-year-old tourist.

The frail holidaymaker - clearly walking with a bad back - is seen emptying his pockets into red trays on rollers at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, last night (Tue).

Seconds after walking through the x-ray, security guard Thanat Rattana, 25, is captured on CCTV casually flipping through the American man's wallet.

Wearing white gloves, he carefully removes the notes, lays them in the tray, then while the pensioner is being patted down just feet away he slips 6,000 baht (137gbp) into his pocket.

The sneaky official even waits until another passenger is at his side - wrongly believing that they would obscure the theft from the airport's surveillance cameras.

Minutes after going through security, the outraged tourist noticed the missing cash and told staff that it had been lost during the screening process.

Police pounced on Thanat after the incident yesterday (Tue) at 5.30pm and caught him red handed with the notes in his pocket.

The sacked employee denied stealing the money but later confessed after security officials showed him the video footage.

Thanat told police he needed money to return to his home town and was broke because of the cost of travelling to work every day. He also claimed to be disabled, and blamed that for his stealing.

Officers charged the worker with theft and he was detained in custody at the airport's holding cells. The cash was returned to the passenger before boarding his plane back to the U.S.