Wanted bomber, listed by the FBI, confronts potential extradition to the United Kingdom following a two-decade-long manhunt
Fugitive Animal Rights Extremist Daniel Andreas San Diego to Face Trial in US After Two Decades
After evading authorities for nearly two decades, Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 47-year-old American, has been discovered living under the alias Danny Webb in rural Wales. San Diego is now set to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London for a five-day extradition hearing, marking the revival of one of the FBI's most frustrating manhunts.
In 2003, San Diego was accused of planting two bombs in California, targeting companies linked to animal testing. The first bomb detonated after the initial blast in Emeryville on August 28, 2003, and a second device packed with nails exploded at a Pleasanton nutrition company on September 26, 2003. Fortunately, no casualties were reported in both incidents.
The FBI indicted San Diego in 2004 on charges of maliciously damaging and destroying property with explosives. They also believe that he had links with the animal rights extremist group Revolutionary Cells. However, the FBI believes that San Diego had outside help, as he was not a skilled intelligence officer.
San Diego managed to evade the FBI after a 65-mile chase in 2003 and remained elusive for years, with leads drying up and the trail going cold. Despite the FBI considering him armed and dangerous, the bounty on his capture was set at $250,000 by the FBI and the Department of Justice, reflecting the seriousness of the 2003 bombings.
The FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list, first published on March 14, 1950, has seen many notorious criminals, but San Diego is the first American-born suspect placed on the list. Local governments may also add to the bounty on fugitives, and the State Department's Rewards for Justice program offers multimillion-dollar sums for terrorism cases.
As San Diego faces the prospect of being returned to the US to stand trial, he will have to answer for the alleged animal rights extremist attacks that terrorised the San Francisco Bay Area two decades ago. The extradition hearing is expected to be a significant event in the history of the FBI's manhunt for San Diego.
