A Jordanian sports coach in the UAE used coffee to erase stamp dates on his passport, to hide the fact that he traveled outside the country without the company’s permission, Khaleej Times reported.

The 38-year-old employee had exceeded his annual leave limit in 2015 and failed to return his passport. Instead, he used coffee to avoid a salary cut.

The idea of using coffee came to him after his colleagues at work warned him that if the company discovered that he had travelled without permission and exceeded the annual leave period, he would have to pay a fine for each day delayed.

The defendant reportedly wet a tissue with coffee and erased the dates of his exit and entry dates, and gave the passport back to his company.

However, two years later in 2017, an officer at Al Maktoum International Airport noticed that the two stamps on different pages were modified.

"When I pointed it out, [the defendant] said he poured coffee on it by mistake, but it showed that both stamps have been erased intentionally," the immigration officer had told prosecutors.

As the defendant’s anxiety increased, he revealed that he erased the dates to hide that he had travelled without his company’s permission.

The case continues.