Bernie Eccelstone was detained in Portugal on Monday after customs found him in possession of an undocumented shotgun.
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Eccelstone, 95, was detained at Tires Aerodrome in Cascais, shortly after the former Formula One chief's private jet landed, according to Portuguese outlet Correio da Manha.
His arrest was "carried out by officers from the Airport Division of the PSP (Portuguese Public Security Police)," the outlet said.
Eccelstone has downplayed his detention, stating that he had no malicious intent and simply lacked the proper documentation for the firearm.
Former F1 Boss Explains Gun Possession
"I had a gun that I was bringing over from Switzerland to Portugal for clay-pigeon shooting. It's as simple as that. I have guns at home there that are licensed," he told the Daily Mail.
"We cleared customs on arriving here. I know the guys there. They were fine with everything. No problems. Then a policeman afterwards asked to search the bag. It could have been [his six-year-old son] Ace's fishing tackle for all it looked like. But it wasn't.
"They asked if I had a 'blue book', which is apparently the documentation you need, and I told them I never travel with documents like that, any documents at all, practically. They said they would arrest me, but after what seemed like hours, we sorted it out, but it has been wall-to-wall aggravation."
The former F1 driver explained that he intended to compete in a clay pigeon shooting competition.
"I was going to take part in Portugal in a clay pigeon shooting competition, which I only knew about a few days ago. 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. We do a bit of clay pigeon shooting there; I brought the gun in with me."
Ultimately, Eccelstone was asked to surrender the gun, pay duty on it, and temporarily import it.
