Bernie Ecclestone has again run afoul of authorities over a firearm. At 95 years old, the former Formula 1 boss was detained at Tires Airfield in Cascais, near Lisbon, after arriving from Switzerland on a private jet with a shotgun lacking the required documentation.
Ecclestone said he was taking the weapon to Portugal to practice skeet shooting. The luggage cleared customs without a hitch, but an officer decided to search: “I had a shotgun that I was bringing from Switzerland to Portugal for skeet shooting,” Ecclestone told the Daily Mail. “It’s as simple as that. I have licensed guns at home there.”
It was during the approach that he realized he did not have the so-called “blue book,” the document required to transport the weapon legally. Ecclestone was held for several hours. “They said they would arrest me, but after what seemed like hours, we resolved the situation, but it was a nuisance from start to finish,” he said.
Fabiana Flosi, Ecclestone’s wife, went to Lisbon to try to resolve the situation. “But it looks like it can be corrected. Fabi went to Lisbon to hand over the gun, or pay the tax, or whatever is necessary to bring it here.”
The shotgun had been taken from Switzerland, where Ecclestone owns a ski chalet valued at £23 million.
The former Formula 1 executive had already faced a similar incident. In May 2022, he was arrested at a Brazilian airport for illegally carrying a weapon aboard a private jet. At the time, he described the case as a “small and silly incident” and was released after posting bail.
