Bernie Ecclestone Addresses Shotgun Incident in Portugal

Bernie Ecclestone has rejected claims he was arrested in Portugal after arriving with a shotgun, insisting the incident amounted to little more than an administrative tangle over paperwork.

The 95-year-old former Formula 1 supremo said he was stopped at Tires Aerodrome in Cascais on Monday after flying in from Switzerland with a shotgun he intended to use in a clay pigeon shooting competition.

According to Ecclestone, four police officers and customs officials met him on arrival and asked about the weapon he was carrying. He said he cooperated immediately.

“I went to see the police and said, ‘What can I do for you?’ And they said, ‘We would like some information on this gun you brought in’,” Ecclestone told the Press Association.

He explained that he had previously transported the same shotgun from England to Switzerland without difficulty and expected a similarly smooth passage in Portugal, particularly as airport staff, he said, know him “very well”.

This time, the process stalled. Ecclestone did not have the correct documentation required to officially import the firearm into the country. The authorities questioned him for around an hour and then required him to hand over the shotgun.

The British businessman, who ran Formula 1 for nearly four decades until 2017, stressed that he was not detained.

He described the Portuguese police as “very helpful” and dismissed reports that he had been arrested, saying he simply had to surrender the weapon because the paperwork was not in order.