A US YouTuber has been kidnapped from a remote village in the Philippines by men armed with machine guns and dressed in black, just months after relocating to the area and marrying a local woman. The Philippine police said that they have launched a search after gunmen kidnapped American national Elliot Onil Eastman, 26, from Vermont.
Eastman was shot in the leg while trying to resist before being kidnapped from a coastal town in Philippines in a speedboat. If confirmed as a kidnapping for ransom, this incident would highlight the ongoing security issues that have plagued the southern Philippines, home to a Muslim minority in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.
Kidnapped by Locals
Philippine authorities did not immediately release background information on Eastman, but a person with a similar name has shared pictures and videos on Facebook, claiming to have married a Muslim woman in Sibuco.
In a bio under a YouTube channel named ElliotBeastman, believed to that of the kidnapped American, Eastman wrote: "Hello everyone I'm Elliot Eastman, I am 26 years old and I came to the Philippines about a year and half ago where I met the love of my life deep in the mountains of the red zone of the Philippines.
"Zamboanga del Norte is a recently developed area of the Philippines that was once only accessible by boat.
"I will be showing you my day to day life as the first and only foreigner to have ever lived here in sibuco for a long period of time. I am from the USA!"
Police in Sibuco, located in the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte, tried to chase down the suspected kidnappers and their victim following the reported abduction on Thursday night.
"We confirm that there was a report of the alleged abduction of an American national," the regional police said in a statement.
"We want to assure the public, particularly the community of Sibuco, that we are doing everything in our power to secure the safe recovery of the victim."
Police Clueless, Seeks Public Help
The police have urged the public to come forward with any information that could help in the ongoing investigation into the reported abduction.
According to two police reports, a Sibuco resident named Abdulmali Hamsiran Jala informed authorities that four men dressed in black and armed with M16 rifles, who claimed to be police officers, forcibly took Eastman as he attempted to flee.
One of the kidnappers shot Eastman in the leg before dragging him into a speedboat and escaping by sea, heading further south toward the provinces of Basilan or Sulu, the reports indicated.
Although police chased the suspects, they were unable to locate either the gunmen or Eastman and subsequently alerted other police units and Philippine marine forces in the area.
