ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 9 Jan) – The principal suspect in the Elliot Eastman kidnapping October last year was arrested at sea between this city and Basilan Island on Tuesday, police said.
In an email sent to the media, the Public Information Office of Police Regional Office 9 (PRO-9) identified the arrested suspect as Jackaria Siddik Jamani, 35, a resident of Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte.
Police said Jamani is believed to have orchestrated the abduction of Eastman in October in Sibuco.
The police email said that Siddik was arrested for kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
His alleged three companions in the kidnapping – Abdul Sahibad, Mursid Ahod, and Fahad Sahibad – were killed in an encounter by the military in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay.
Lt. Col. Ramoncelio W. Sawan, officer-in-charge of PRO-9’s information office, said that “in the course of the investigation, the Critical Incident Management Task Group obtained information from a witness about the untimely death of Eastman on the night of his abduction.”
The witness, Sawan said, revealed that the American vlogger had sustained two gunshot wounds from his captors and died after attempting to resist. He passed away on the motorized banca while being transported away from Sibuco.
The abductors reportedly threw his body overboard when realizing that Eastman died. His cadaver was not found by police ever since.
Eastman, 26, was a YouTuber in his last year. He had been in the Philippines for a year and a half and had married Karisha Jala, a native of Sibuco.
He hails from Vermont in the United States, but his last residence was in Sitio Tungawan, Barangay Poblacion in Sibuco. (Frencie L. Carreon / MindaNews)
