Sean Turnell, an Australian economic advisor professor to deposed Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was arrested by the military who seized power in Rangoon.
The BBC reports.
This is the first known arrest of a foreign citizen after the coup.
Turnell is the director of the Myanmar Development Institute and on social media he described the news of the coup as "heartbreaking and a disaster for the economy".
"I was arrested, perhaps accused of something, it can be anything, of course," he said, quoted by the BBC.