Bernie Ecclestone denies arrest after being stopped with shotgun at airport
The former F1 supremo, 95, took a shotgun to Portugal to take part in a clay pigeon competition but was forced to surrender his shotgun to authorities as he did not have the correct documents for it
Ecclestone flew into Portugal with a shotgun(Image: Getty Images)
Bernie Ecclestone was quizzed by cops for carrying a gun at an airport – but has denied being arrested. The former F1 supremo, 95, was forced to surrender his shotgun to authorities in Portugal.
He said he intended to use the weapon in a clay pigeon shooting competition but was told by police that he did not have the correct documents after landing at Cascais, just outside Lisbon.
Ecclestone, who ruled F1 for four decades before he was deposed in 2017, said he spoke to customs officers and “four police” officers for “about an hour” after flying in from Switzerland.
Ecclestone said his wife Fabiana, pictured, tipped him off about a clay pigeon shoot in Portugal(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Eve)
He denied earlier reports he had been arrested, saying: “The police were very helpful and doing all they could to stop us from having to do what we had to do.”
Ecclestone said his wife called him “a few days ago” to say she had heard about a clay pigeon competition taking place in Portugal and suggested he go. He said: “As I have got guns already in Switzerland, which have been imported properly, because we do a bit of clay pigeon shooting there, I brought the gun in with me.”
But after he went through customs, he was told the police had asked to see him and requested information about the gun he had brought in’.
Ecclestone flew into Tires Aerodrome in the municipality of Cascais
He said: “I didn’t even unzip the case. I said, ‘Well, it is a shotgun and this is the reason’. And they asked where is the blue book for the gun? And I said, ‘I don’t know, I have never heard about a blue book in my life.’
“They said, ‘Yes, well anyone with these guns should always have the book, it is like a passport. Incidentally, I want to look at your passport, too,’ which they took.
“I said I bought the gun in England and took it into Switzerland through all the normal channels. And they said, ‘Where is the blue book?’ And I said, ‘I just told you, I don’t know about the blue book’.”
Ecclestone surrendered his gun(Image: PA)
He added: “There were about four police guys and they said, ‘What you have done is try to import a gun into the country’. I said, I have not tried to do that. I have come through customs, and here I am with you’.
“And they were like, ‘It is a gun and we need all the particulars for the gun, and I can I have a look at your passport, and we need the blue book for the gun’. So all this nonsense went on.
“We went back to the customs, and the police had complained to customs, and the customs officer said, ‘You need to surrender the gun here in Lisbon and then we will look at it there, and do you want to import it?
“And if so, you will have to pay duty on it and ask for a temporary import, and we will deal with it like that’. So I said, Well we’d better do that’.”
Four years ago, Ecclestone had a handgun on him before he boarded a flight in Sao Paulo. He was stopped by police and had to pay 6,000 Brazilian reals (£1,000), to the local authorities. The gun was confiscated.
