London [UK], September 8: Bernie Ecclestone said he was stopped by police at an airport in Portugal for bringing a shotgun into the country he intended to use in a clay pigeon shooting competition.
The 95-year-old former Formula One boss told the Press Association that he had to "surrender" the weapon because he did not have the correct documents, but denied that he was arrested.
The incident took place on Monday after Ecclestone landed in Cascais - about 20 miles outside of Lisbon - on a flight from Switzerland.
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".
Explaining the events, Ecclestone told PA: "I was going to take part in Portugal in a clay pigeon shooting competition, which I only knew about a few days ago because Fabiana (his wife) met someone when she was coming back from Brazil to Portugal. He said he was entering into a clay pigeon competition.
"So she called me and said, 'There is something here you should go and look at. Why don't you turn up and join?' And I said, 'Well, that wouldn't be a bad idea'.
"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." "I went through customs and the people know me very well. They said, 'Anything to declare?' I said, 'No, nothing really, just all the usual personal things,'" he added.
He noted that he did not have a so-called blue book for the weapon.
Police told him he had in effect tried to import a gun into the country.
He was asked to surrender the gun, pay duty on it and temporarily import it.
Responding to reports he had been arrested, Ecclestone replied: "No.
The police were very helpful and doing all they could to stop us from having to do what we had to do." Four years ago, Ecclestone had a handgun on him before he boarded a flight in Sao Paulo in Brazil. He was stopped by police and had to pay 6,000 Brazilian reals (£1,000), to the local authorities. The gun was confiscated.
Source: Qatar Tribune
