Motor racing-Former F1 supremo Ecclestone stopped in Portugal over shotgun on private jet

Formula One F1 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - December 7, 2025 Former chief executive of the Formula One Group Bernie Ecclestone ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix REUTERS/Jakub Porzycki

LISBON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Ex-Formula One ⁠supremo Bernie Ecclestone was stopped at an airport in Portugal on Monday ⁠after police found he had brought a shotgun into the country on ‌his private jet without documentation.

The 95-year-old told Reuters in a telephone call from Portugal that he was carrying the gun with him from Switzerland for a clay pigeon shooting event but lacked a necessary 'blue book' ​to import it.

Ecclestone said he had landed with his ⁠wife Fabiana, who is a ⁠vice-president for sport at Formula One's governing body,at Tires airfield near the resort town of ⁠Cascais ‌outside Lisbon.

"All that happened is that I took a gun that I've been using in Switzerland for clay pigeon shooting into the country to ⁠do some clay pigeon shooting in Portugal at a place ​where they had this ‌weekend an exhibition thing going on," he explained.

Ecclestone, who does not speak Portuguese, ⁠said he had ​passed customs but then the police asked about the gun and sought documentation, leading to what he called "unnecessary aggravation".

His Brazilian-born wife eventually went to Lisbon, accompanied by a customs official, ⁠to surrender the gun to the authorities.

"So now we've ​gone through all this and the people in Lisbon have got the gun," he said. "I've signed some documents as they wanted."

Portuguese newspapers first reported the incident, quoting police sources ⁠saying authorities discovered the shotgun during a routine check.

Ecclestone, a former racer who ran the commercial side of the sport for some 40 years until being ousted in 2017, owns a home in the adjoining resort area.

The episode echoed the Briton's earlier brush ​with the law over an unregistered weapon in Brazil, ⁠where he was briefly detained in 2022 for carrying a small handgun while boarding a ​private plane to Switzerland.

Ecclestone then acknowledged owning the gun, ‌but said he was unaware it was ​in his luggage, dismissing the incident as "silly" and "tiny".

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London and Andrei Khalip in Lisbon; Editing by Ken Ferris and Christian Radnedge)

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一级方程式F1 - 阿布扎比大奖赛 - 阿联酋阿布扎比亚斯码头赛道 - 2025年12月7日 一级方程式集团前首席执行官伯尼·埃克莱斯顿在阿布扎比大奖赛前 路透社/雅库布·波尔齐茨基

里斯本，9 月 7 日（路透社）——前一级方程式赛车掌门人伯尼·埃克莱斯顿周一在葡萄牙机场被警方拦下，此前警方发现他乘坐私人飞机携带一支霰弹枪入境，但没有相关文件。

这位 95 岁的老人在葡萄牙通过电话告诉路透社，他从瑞士带着这把枪来参加飞碟射击比赛，但他缺少必要的“蓝皮书”来进口这把枪。

埃克莱斯顿表示，他和妻子法比亚娜（一级方程式赛车管理机构的体育副总裁）一起降落在里斯本郊外度假小镇卡斯凯什附近的蒂雷斯机场。

“事情的经过是这样的，我把我在瑞士用于飞碟射击的枪带到葡萄牙，想在某个地方进行飞碟射击，那里这周末正好有个展览活动，”他解释说。

不会说葡萄牙语的埃克莱斯顿表示，他已经通过了海关，但随后警方询问了枪支情况并要求出示文件，这导致了他所说的“不必要的麻烦”。

他出生于巴西的妻子最终在一名海关官员的陪同下前往里斯本，向当局上缴了枪支。

“现在这一切都过去了，里斯本那边的人拿到了枪，”他说。“我已经按他们的要求签了一些文件。”

葡萄牙报纸率先报道了这起事件，援引警方消息人士的话称，当局在例行检查中发现了这支霰弹枪。

埃克莱斯顿曾是一名赛车手，在 2017 年被赶下台之前，他经营这项运动的商业方面长达 40 年之久。他在邻近的度假区拥有一处房产。

这件事让人想起这位英国人早前在巴西因携带未注册武器而触犯法律的经历。2022年，他因携带小型手枪登上前往瑞士的私人飞机而被短暂拘留。

埃克莱斯顿随后承认枪支是他的，但他表示自己并不知道枪支在他的行李中，并将此事轻描淡写地称为“愚蠢的”和“微不足道的”。

（伦敦 Alan Baldwin 和里斯本 Andrei Khalip 报道；Ken Ferris 和 Christian Radnedge 编辑）

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