Ex-F1 boss Ecclestone stopped by police for taking shotgun to Portugal
· Toronto Sun
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Former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said he wasn’t arrested at a Portuguese airport after arriving with a shotgun he intended to use in a clay pigeon shooting competition, BBC reports.
The 95-year-old, who ran F1 for nearly 40 years until 2017, said he was stopped and questioned by four police officers and customs officials at the Tires Aerodrome in Cascais on Monday after landing from Switzerland. He said he has to “surrender” the weapon as he didn’t have the proper documents to import it.
“I was going to take part in a clay pigeon shooting competition in Portugal,” Ecclestone told the Press Association. “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’.” He added that he had taken his shotgun to Switzerland from England and didn’t anticipate any problems since airport officials know him “very well.”
But on arrival to Portugal, Ecclestone was questioned by police for an hour and was asked to surrender his gun.
Happened before
This marks the second time Ecclestone has run into trouble importing firearms into a country. In 2022, he was arrested in Brazil for carrying a gun onto a private plane to Switzerland. Authorities found an undocumented Seecamp .32 gun in his luggage during an x-ray screening. Ecclestone did say that it was his gun, but said he didn’t know it had been in his luggage at the time.
He was ordered to pay 6,000 Brazilian reals (1,600 Canadian) to local authorities. The gun was confiscated.