Bernie Ecclestone has reportedly been detained in Portugal over a firearm issue. Image: XPB Images
According to Correio da Manha, the 95-year-old was stopped at Tires Aerodrome in Cascais, near Lisbon, after arriving by private jet from Switzerland on Monday.
The report said officers from Portugal’s Public Security Police became involved following a routine inspection, with Ecclestone reportedly taken into custody over the firearm.
Ecclestone has disputed suggestions he was formally arrested, but confirmed he had brought the shotgun into Portugal to take part in clay-pigeon shooting and did not have the paperwork required to transport it into the country.
“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 told Daily Mail Sport.
“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.”
Ecclestone said the problem emerged when police asked him to produce what he described as a “blue book” covering the weapon.
“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,” he said.
“They said they would arrest me, but after what seemed like hours, we sorted it out, but it has been wall-to-wall aggravation.”
Speaking separately to the Press Association, Ecclestone said he had intended to join a clay-pigeon shooting competition after his wife, Fabiana Flosi, became aware of the event.
He said he already owned firearms in Switzerland and had brought one with him without realising additional documentation would be needed in Portugal.
Ecclestone claimed he initially passed through customs before being asked to speak with police, who questioned him about the shotgun and its paperwork.
Responding directly to reports that he had been arrested, he said: “No. The police were very helpful and doing all they could to stop us from having to do what we had to do.”
The firearm was subsequently surrendered in Lisbon while authorities worked through the documentation and import requirements.
“So now we’ve gone through all this and the people in Lisbon have got the gun,” Ecclestone told Reuters.
“I’ve signed some documents as they wanted.”
The episode is the second time in four years the former F1 supremo has been questioned by authorities over a firearm while travelling.
Ecclestone was stopped in Brazil in May 2022 after an unloaded LW Seecamp .32 calibre pistol was discovered in his luggage before a flight from Sao Paulo to Switzerland.
He said at the time that he owned the handgun but had forgotten it was in his bag, while Brazilian authorities said a businessman had been arrested for possession of a firearm at Campinas airport.
Ecclestone was later released after paying bail.
The Briton controlled Formula 1’s commercial operations for several decades before leaving his position in 2017.