an empty baggage claim area at an airport

Photo by Mark Stuckey on Unsplash

Ecclestone Gives Up Shotgun at Portuguese Airport

curiousSep 9, 2026·283 words·3 min read

Bernie Ecclestone, the 95-year-old British businessman who ran Formula One motor racing for almost 40 years, was stopped by police and customs officers at a small airport near Lisbon, in Portugal. He had just arrived from Switzerland in his private jet, carrying a shotgun. Ecclestone said he planned to use the gun in a clay-pigeon shooting competition.

Ecclestone said he had taken the same gun from England to Switzerland with no problem. He owns legal guns in Portugal. Customs let him through, he said, and then a police officer asked to look in his bag. The officers wanted a "blue book", the official document you need to import a weapon. Ecclestone said he never travels with papers like that. Reports do not agree about what happened next. Portuguese media said he was arrested, but Ecclestone denied this and said the police were "very helpful".

His wife, Fabiana Flosi, went to Lisbon to hand over the gun or pay the tax to bring it in legally. It is not the first time. In 2022, police in Brazil arrested him for illegally carrying a gun onto a private plane.

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