Philippine police said Wednesday they arrested three suspects in the kidnapping of an American in the country’s south and believe the victim, who was shot in the leg during the abduction, is still alive.
Two of the suspects in the Oct. 17 kidnapping of Elliot Onil Eastman, 26, in Sibuco town in Zamboanga del Norte province surrendered separately and pointed to a third suspect, who was arrested in Sibuco, police officials said. Three other suspects, who may be holding Eastman, have been identified, police added.
“We believe he is alive so our operations are ongoing,” regional police spokesperson Lt. Col. Helen Galvez told The Associated Press. “Our search won’t stop until we locate him.” A house-to-house search was underway in one unspecified area.
Galvez said the suspects belonged to a criminal group and not to any of the armed Muslim rebel groups, which have been blamed for a spate of ransom kidnappings in the southern Philippines over decades. The kidnappers were armed with M16 rifles and disguised themselves as police officers.
Eastman, from Vermont, has been posting Facebook videos of his life in Sibuco, a remote and poor coastal town, where the suspects spotted him. “He was confident. He was the only foreigner there,” Galvez said.
The southern third of the Philippines has long been hamstrung by stark poverty and an array of insurgents and outlaws, though a 2014 peace agreement has eased widespread fighting in the region. The Abu Sayyaf group had previously targeted American and other Western tourists and missionaries.
Philippine authorities are conducting a search operation and pursuing the remaining suspects in a bid to locate and rescue the kidnapped American national, Elliot Onil Eastman. The incident is a stark reminder of the lingering security challenges in the southern Philippines.
