Bernie Ecclestone Arrested for Gun Possession in Portugal

Bernie Ecclestone, the man who once ruled Formula One with an iron grip and a stopwatch, is back in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

The 95-year-old former F1 supremo has reportedly been arrested in Portugal for illegally carrying a shotgun, the second time in four years he has been detained over a firearm while travelling by private jet.

Ecclestone was stopped at Tires Aerodrome in Cascais, just outside Lisbon, after landing in his private aircraft, according to Portuguese outlet Correio de Manha. What began as a routine operation by authorities at the small aerodrome ended with one of motorsport’s most powerful figures being held over a weapon found in his possession.

Details remain thin. Portugal’s Airport Division of the Public Security Police (PSP) has not officially commented on the incident, and there is no confirmation yet on whether Ecclestone will be charged or brought before a judge. A PSP spokesman distanced the force from the arrest, saying border control officers had not carried out the operation attributed to them, and pointed instead to the Tax and Customs Authority – Lisbon Delegation as the body involved. Customs officials have so far been unreachable for clarification.

What is clear is that this is not unfamiliar territory for Ecclestone.

In 2022, he was detained in Brazil after a gun was discovered in his luggage as he prepared to board a private jet from Sao Paulo to Switzerland. The weapon, an LW Seecamp .32, was found at Campinas airport. Brazilian authorities announced that a businessman had been arrested for possession of a firearm, without naming him, but Ecclestone later admitted it was his.

He claimed at the time that he had no idea the gun was in his bag. After paying bail, he was allowed to continue his journey to Switzerland. He later dismissed the episode as a “silly, tiny little incident”, though he conceded it had caused major disruption to his travel plans with his family.

Ecclestone said he had bought the pistol years earlier in Brazil from a Formula One mechanic, without ammunition, and insisted he carried it only as a deterrent. He recalled being told, “You need something like this. It might work if someone tried to mug you or something,” and said he kept it at home, occasionally joking around with visitors.

Now, at an age when most former executives are long retired and out of the headlines, Ecclestone finds himself once again answering questions about a firearm discovered around his travel arrangements.

The arrest in Portugal comes against the backdrop of a turbulent period in his life away from the paddock. In 2022, Ecclestone agreed to pay £652 million after admitting fraud over his failure to declare overseas assets. He had not disclosed a trust in Singapore linked to a bank account containing around £400 million. The former F1 chief executive pleaded guilty to a single charge and received a 17-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Ecclestone, who helped bring Formula One back to Portugal in 1984 and turned the sport into a global commercial powerhouse, now divides his time between homes in Switzerland, Portugal and Brazil. The man who once dictated the calendar and controlled the commercial rights of F1 now finds his own movements under scrutiny from customs and police.

Whether this latest incident in Cascais becomes another “tiny little” footnote or develops into a more serious legal problem will depend on what Portuguese authorities decide to do next.