Sean Turnell, an Australian economic adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, told Reuters on February 6 he was being detained by the Myanmar military, and it is the first known arrest of a foreign national since the military coup on February 1. 

“I guess you will soon hear of it, but I am being detained,” Turnell said.

“Being charged with something, but not sure what. I am fine and strong, and not guilty of anything,” he said.

A series of protests occurred and internet access was cut off on February 6 and on the same day, Australia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it was “deeply concerned about reports of Australian and other foreign nationals being detained arbitrarily in Myanmar.”

The ministry did not name Turnell or provide further details on other foreign nationals being detained. It said it had particular concerns about an Australian who was detained at a police station.

Turnell is a professor of economics at Macquarie University in Sydney and has been advising Aung San Suu Kyi on economic policy for several years.

On February 6, several thousand protesters gathered in Australia’s second-largest city of Melbourne denouncing the coup and demanding her release.