‘Brains’ in Eastman kidnapping arrested

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — The alleged mastermind in the kidnapping of American national Elliot Onil Eastman was arrested in the waters between Zamboanga City and Basilan Strait on Tuesday. The suspect, identified as Jackaria Siddik Jamani, alias Ustadz, 35, was trying to escape to Basilan when he was arrested on board a passenger vessel, according to Lt. Col. Ramoncelio Sawan, acting spokesman for the Zamboanga peninsula police.

Sawan said a joint team of the police served an arrest warrant on Jamani in connection with the kidnapping of Eastman in Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte in October last year.

The warrant was issued by a local court in Siocon town on Dec. 22. No bail was recommended for Jamani’s temporary liberty.

Police Special Action Force commandos, on board a speedboat, intercepted the vessel and arrested Jamani.

The suspect was taken to the Sibuco police station for documentation and presentation to the court that issued the arrest warrant.

Eastman, 26, from the US state of Vermont, was seized from the house of the parents of his Filipina wife in Sitio Tungawan, Barangay Poblacion on Oct. 7.

The kidnappers, who posed as anti-narcotics agents, shot Eastman in the leg and dragged him to a waiting motorized boat.

After conducting extensive pursuit operations and seeing no signs of life, police confirmed on Dec. 7 that Eastman died on the night of the kidnapping.

Based on the accounts of one of the suspects who surrendered to the police, the kidnappers threw Eastman’s body into the sea. –  Emmanuel Tupas