JERUSALEM, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli police arrested on Friday a senior flight attendant on Israir Airlines who was suspected of regularly stealing money that passengers donated during flights to charity organizations.

The person, aged 52 and served as a flight service manager for the carrier, was arrested following police covert activity at Ben-Gurion International Airport. During his interrogation, he admitted having stolen the money.

The investigation revealed that the attendant asked passengers on flights to donate money to aid organizations in special envelopes in the seat pockets.

He then kept the envelopes for himself, instead of handing them to the ground crews after landing.

A detective from the Ben Gurion Airport police unit joined an internal flight to the southern city of Eilat, where the suspect worked as a service manager.

During the flight, the attendant made suspicious actions that reinforced the accusation against him.

In a search of the attendant's suitcases, money envelopes collected from four flights were found, with a total of more than 2,000 new shekels (550 U.S. dollars).

Later, in a search of the suspect's home, an amount of more than 7,000 new shekels in cash was found, as well as many fundraising envelopes.

Israir is the third largest airline in Israel and operates domestic flights, as well as international flights to dozens of destinations in Europe. The company has apologized for the case.