By Alan Baldwin

MONACO, Reuters – Bernie Ecclestone, former Formula One chief, denied Friday that he was arrested in Brazil. He claimed an illegal firearm found in his baggage before boarding a plane had never been used and contained no ammunition.

Briton, now 91 years old, said to Reuters that a “silly little incident” caused a lot more aggravation when he attempted to flee Sao Paulo with his family on Wednesday night by private aircraft.

He joked that he hadn’t been in any media lately, and that he should do something about it.

The Sao Paulo state security agency confirmed to Reuters that a man was taken into custody for possessing a firearm at Campinas airport on Thursday. However, he did not directly name the suspect.

Ecclestone said, “I wasn’t arrested.” He confirmed that he was required to post bail of 6,060 Rupees ($1,260), before he could leave.

He said, “They wanted it to be in our local currency that we don’t have.” So it was another adventure trying to get the money. When I left the country I had no local currency.

It was “a bloody drama that wasn’t necessary, and it won over nothing.”

Ecclestone claimed that the LW Seecamp.32 pistol, which he called a LW Seecamp.32, was bought from a Formula One mechanic, or tyre man, in Brazil, years before ammunition. It is used as deterrent.

He explained, “They said that you needed something like this.” If someone tried to mug your or anything else, it might work. It was offered for sale by the man.

He said, “I kept it at home and would play with it when people visited me.”

Ecclestone stated that the gun was in his shirt pocket. The people who packed Ecclestone’s luggage did not know about the gun and placed it in the suitcase.

A scanner at the airport revealed that the gun had not been registered.

It was not going to get shot and it didn’t have any bullets, so it wasn’t worth my time to register. Ecclestone said, “I didn’t realize you needed to.”

According to the billionaire, he spent the night at the airport from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. filling out paperwork and making statements before he left for work the next morning.

Ecclestone was married to Brazilian-born Fabiana Ecclestone.

Aparecida Schunck, her mother was kidnapped by criminals in Sao Paulo. They demanded 120 million Reis (25.07 Million) as ransom. She was released nine days later after a raid of the police without paying any money.