A Korean national has been arrested at Suvarnabhumi airport and charged with stealing a purse containing cash worth about 10,000 baht which had been forgotten by a fellow traveler at a passenger terminal shop.
Lee Jong Kwang was detained by police on Tuesday at a check-in counter as he was having his documents checked before boarding a flight home.
The 29-year-old at first denied the accusation, but later admitted to the theft charge after officers showed him a security camera recording of him picking up the purse, Suvarnabhumi airport police chief Pol Col Wirot Tatso said on Wednesday.
The victim, identified as Park Pyung Moo, told police he had gone to a phone shop on the terminal's second floor, and when he left had forgotten his black purse, which he had placed on the counter. When he returned to get it, it was not there.
Investigators said that after Mr Lee spotted the pocketbook he struck up a conversation with nearby shop staff, asking about the phone network, and then took the purse with him when he left.
He was quickly found after police viewed the camera footage.