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Bernie Ecclestone has reportedly been arrested in Portugal for allegedly carrying a shotgun at an airport, according to Portuguese outlet Correio da Manha.
The former F1 boss was detained after routine inspection as his private jet landed at Tires Aerodrome in Cascais, which is an airfield outside of Lisbon.
His arrest was “carried out by officers from the Airport Division of the PSP (Portuguese Public Security Police),” the outlet said.
The 95-year-old was coming from Switzerland.
Ecclestone admitted to Daily Mail he traveled without the correct documentation for having a gun on him and was held up for “hours” at the airport.
“I had a gun that I was bringing over from Switzerland to Portugal for clay-pigeon shooting. It’s as simple as that. I have guns at home there that are licensed,” he said.
“We cleared customs on arriving here – I know the guys there – and they were fine with everything. No problems. Then a policeman afterwards asked to search the bag. It could have been [his six-year-old son[ Ace’s fishing tackle for all it looked like, but it wasn’t.
“They asked if I had a ‘blue book’, which is apparently the documentation you need, and I told them I never travel with documents like that, any documents at all practically. They said they would arrest me, but after what seemed like hours, we sorted it out, but it has been wall-to-wall aggravation.”
He added his wife Fabiana Flosi, 49, went to Lisbon to handle the matters for him.
A spokesman for the PSP police force, which according to Portuguese media reports made the arrest, said told Daily Mail, “Our border control officers haven’t made the arrest that’s being attributed to them.”
This incident was not Ecclestone’s first issue with traveling with a gun.
He was arrested for illegally carrying a gun while boarding a private plan in May 2022 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. At the time, he claimed he was unaware it was in his luggage.
He described it as a “silly, tiny little incident” and eventually paid bail and flew to Switzerland.
Ecclestone was the CEO of F1 from 1987 to 2017.
English (US)