YANGON: An American consultant and author of a memoir about Myanmar’s 2021 coup is being detained in the country over a property dispute, a police source said on Saturday.
Security consultancy founder Adam Castillo published a book recently detailing his work in the business community through Myanmar’s military putsch, after which much of the foreign community quit the country.
Castillo, a former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar, said on his LinkedIn social media profile this week that he was concluding an international promotional book tour in Malaysia. A Yangon police source said Castillo was detained as he returned to Myanmar on Thursday over a lawsuit brought by the current director of a business organisation he once headed.
It was not clear whether the organisation was the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar, which could not be reached immediately for comment. The police source, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to share information, said Castillo was accused of breach of trust over a property, a crime punishable by up to a decade in prison.
“The current group director filed a lawsuit against him related to their organisation affairs,” he said. “That’s why he was detained at the airport.” A court remanded Castillo in custody on Friday for two weeks, he said. A separate source with knowledge of the case, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Castillo’s detention but could not provide any further details.
A spokesman for the US State Department said they were “aware of reports regarding the detention of a US citizen” in Myanmar, but declined to comment further because of “privacy considerations”.
A spokesman for Castillo’s security firm AGS Myanmar declined to comment when contacted by phone. Myanmar’s 2021 military coup deposed elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained.
Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2026
