An American YouTuber spoke of moving to the most dangerous area of the Philippines just a week before he was kidnapped.
Elliot Eastman, 26, was shot in the leg and kidnapped by gunmen posing as police officers and taken away on a speedboat, according to local authorities.
The Vermont native had been sharing his life online after moving to the southern Philippines, where he married a local Muslim woman in Sibuco.
Just weeks before he was kidnapped, Eastman posted on a Facebook livestream that he was afraid to live in the area, where he had been for about five months, according to police.
“As long as I’m here, my life will continue to be at risk,” Eastman said on Sept. 22.
‘That’s the reality. Especially in the area I’m in… It’s not even just about the Philippines.
Elliot Eastman, 26, was shot in the leg and kidnapped by gunmen posing as police officers and taken away on a speedboat, according to local authorities.
“I came to the Philippines about a year and a half ago, where I met the love of my life deep in the mountains of the red zone of the Philippines,” the YouTuber wrote in his bio.
This area I’m in is one of the most dangerous in the country, so it’s literally like the red zone.
Eastman added that ‘of course I was afraid’ but not as much as at the beginning of his stay in the Asian country.
‘There are nights that I am afraid, there are moments that I am afraid… but it has improved. In the past, I had trouble sleeping at night.’
When one of the livestream viewers asked him when he would return to the US, Elliot replied that he wasn’t sure.
If confirmed to be a case of kidnapping for ransom, it would be the latest reminder of long-standing security problems that have plagued the southern Philippines, the homeland of a Muslim minority in a majority Catholic nation.
In a bio on his YouTube channel, Eastman wrote: “Hello everyone, I’m Elliot Eastman, I’m 26 years old and I came to the Philippines about a year and a half ago, where I met the love of my life deep in the mountains of the Philippine red zone.
Eastman appears on one of his YouTube live streams on October 16.
Police in Sibuco City, in the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte, attempted to hunt down the alleged kidnappers and their victim, following the kidnapping reported Thursday night.
‘Zamboanga del Norte is a newly developed area of the Philippines that was previously only accessible by boat.
‘I will be showing you my daily life as the first and only foreigner who has lived here in Sibuco for a long period of time. I am from the USA!’
Police in Sibuco City in the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte attempted to hunt down the alleged kidnappers and their victim after the kidnapping reported Thursday night.
“We confirm that there was a report of the alleged kidnapping of a US citizen,” regional police said in a statement.
American YouTuber Elliot Eastman (right) is suspected of being kidnapped in a remote Philippine village on Thursday, just months after marrying a local woman (left).
Eastman wrote: ‘I am 26 years old and came to the Philippines about a year and a half ago, where I met the love of my life deep in the mountains of the red light district of the Philippines.
“We want to assure the public, particularly the Sibuco community, that we are doing everything in our power to ensure the safe recovery of the victim.”
Police asked the public to immediately provide any information that could assist the ongoing investigation into the reported kidnapping.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Helen Gálvez told AFP that “so far no one is asking for a ransom.”
Two police reports said that a Sibuco resident, Abdulmali Hamsiran Jala, reported to police that four men dressed in black who were armed with M16 rifles and introduced themselves as police officers forcibly took away Eastman, who attempted to escape.
One of the gunmen shot Eastman in the leg before dragging him onto a speedboat and then fled by sea further south toward the provinces of Basilan or Sulu, according to police reports.
Police chased but failed to find the gunmen or Eastman and alerted other Philippine police and marine units in the region, according to reports.
The southern Philippines has abundant resources, but has long been crippled by extreme poverty and a series of insurgents and outlaws.