A tourist has been arrested when for allegedly stealing an airline worker's phone while she was helping him to check-in at an airport in Bangkok.

Mubarak Al-Azmi, 39, was checking in his luggage at Terminal 4 of the Suvarnabhumi Airport on July 31 when the staff told him he had exceeded the weight limit and would need to pay extra charges.

The female employee Rasikan Burapahan used her iPhone to calculate the appropriate fee then placed the handset on the counter while she reviewed the tourist's documents.

However, Mubarak allegedly discretely grabbed her new iPhone 14 and stuffed it in his trouser pocket. He then proceeded to prepare to board the aircraft to Kuwait.

However, Rasikan quickly noticed the missing gadget and reported it to the Suvarnabhumi Airport Police, certain the Kuwaiti man had stolen it. He was later caught while going through the security checks.

Rasikan said: 'I was in the process of checking him in when I calculated the excess baggage fee. Afterward, I placed my phone on the counter to show him.

'Subsequently, I went about my other tasks, inadvertently ignoring my phone until the moment I needed it, and that's when I realised my phone was missing.

'I was quite sure that it was him that stolen my phone because I remembered the last time I took out my phone which was when I was calculating the fee because I rarely touch my phone when working.'

Suvarnabhumi International Airport Director Kittipong Kittikachorn ordered law enforcement to track down Mubarak, who was detained while he was going through security checks before he could embark on his flight.

Officers surrounded him at the baggage x-ray and ordered the tourist to empty his pockets, finding Rasikan's missing phone among his belongings.

Authorities hauled him to the airport's police station, where he denied the theft charge and claimed everything was a misunderstanding. He claimed he had taken the Apple handset worth more than 1,000 USD by accident.

Footage shows an upset Rasikan confronting Mubarak, asking him: 'You see this and you didn't know that it was mine? You can't tell by the case, by the wallpaper, by the calls?'

Police said they found Mubarak's excuse suspicious as he had ignored multiple calls to the phone and eventually turned it off. They also said he had declined to board the plane and had tried to evade the X-ray machine possibly attempting to conceal the stolen gadget.

Meanwhile, a grateful Rasikan told reporters she 'cried tears of relief' upon retrieving her smartphone. She said she is determined to pursue legal action against Mubarak.