A radical animal-rights activist who was linked to three Bay Area bombings in 2003 has recently been captured after two decades on the run, in the United Kingdom.
Berkeley-born Daniel Andreas San Diego, 46, was one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives after a series of bombings one month apart in the Bay Area in 2003. As ABC News reports, San Diego was wanted for two bombings an hour apart at an Emeryville biotech campus on August 28, 2003; as well as detonating a nail bomb at Shaklee Corporation, at a nutritional products company in Pleasanton a month later.
While no one was injured in the bombings, the FBI believes that the first set of bombings was intended to harm first responders.
At the time, an extremist animal-rights group called Revolutionary Cells-Animal Liberation Brigade claimed responsibility for the bombings, pointing to the companies’ ties to New Jersey-based Huntingdon Life Sciences — which activists accused of animal cruelty in its testing of pharmaceuticals on animals.
San Diego had last been seen in San Francisco in early October, 2003, under surveillance by the FBI. He was reportedly seen parking his car and "disappearing" into a transit station, as ABC News reports.
As the Guardian reports, San Diego was arrested Monday "at a property in a rural area next to woodland" in the Conwy area of north Wales. The arrest was conducted by specialist extradition officers with the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Extradition proceedings reportedly began Tuesday at Westminster Magistrates Court in London, per the BBC.
"Daniel San Diego’s arrest after more than 20 years... shows that no matter how long it takes, the FBI will find you and hold you accountable," said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a statement. "There’s a right way and a wrong way to express your views in our country, and turning to violence and destruction of property is not the right way."
San Diego was originally indicted by the feds in July 2004, and he was put on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2009.
It's not clear what ultimately led to San Diego being found in Wales — there had been a $250,000 reward offered for information leading to his arrest for over a decade. As the Chronicle notes, the FBI had received tips over the years that San Diego was in Marin County, Santa Cruz, Massachusetts, Germany, France, Italy, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Spain, and France.