Elliot Eastman Youtube Channel

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has also started looking into the abduction of an American citizen married to a Filipina and who was abducted in Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte.

FBI agents paid a courtesy visit on Sibuco Mayor Joel Ventura on Saturday to get updates on the ground.

The group then proceeded to the residence of the victim's wife at Sitio Tungawan in Barangay Poblacion to talk to the wife and her family.

The FBI has legal attachés and agents across the world, including in the Philippines. These personnel “[serve] as a bridge to our overseas partners and a conduit for strengthening the global rule of law,” the bureau says on its website.

The legal attaché offices also “regularly [work] through elements of the international law enforcement community such as Interpol and Europol and numerous working groups, task forces, and training initiatives.”

READ: 'Persons of interest' tagged in abduction of American in Zamboanga del Norte

Elliot Onil Eastman, a native of Vermont and a content creator on YouTube, was forcibly taken by four armed men who pretended to be law enforcement personnel in the evening of Oct. 17, 2024.

He reportedly resisted his abductors, prompting them to shoot him in the leg.

He was then taken to a waiting "jungkung" motorized pumpboat that sped towards the high seas.

The police and military launched a search and rescue operation for Eastman while security forces in neighboring provinces have been put on alert for possible sightings of Eastman and his captors.

No group has been named as potentially responsible for the abduction and there has been no contact between Eastman's family and his captors.

Regional police said Saturday that they are looking at several persons of interest.

"We are validating leads to ensure we are tracking the right group commander and we can build an airtight case," Police Brig. Gen. Bowenn Joey Madaudding, commander of the task group formed in response to the abduction, said.