A suspect wanted in the U.S. for 2003 bombings in the San Francisco area appeared Tuesday in a London courtroom after a 20-year run from the law, officials said.
Daniel Andreas San Diego, 46, one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives, was arrested Monday in a rural area of northern Wales, the National Crime Agency said. He was ordered held in custody after the court appearance in Westminster Magistrates’ Court and faces extradition.
San Diego is charged in the U.S. with planting two bombs that exploded about an hour apart on Aug. 28, 2003, on the campus of a biotechnology company in Emeryville, California. He’s also accused of setting off another bomb a month later at a nutritional products company in Pleasanton.
There were no injuries from the bombings, but authorities said the biotechnology bomb was intended to harm first responders.
A group called Revolutionary Cells-Animal Liberation Brigade claimed responsibility, citing the companies’ ties to Huntingdon Life Sciences. Huntingdon was a target of animal rights extremists because of its work with experimental drugs and chemicals while under contract for pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and other companies.
“Daniel San Diego’s arrest after more than 20 years as a fugitive for two bombings in the San Francisco area shows that no matter how long it takes, the FBI will find you and hold you accountable,” Director Christopher Wray said 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.”
The FBI had San Diego under surveillance when he parked his car Oct. 6, 2003, near downtown San Francisco and disappeared into a transit station. The agency didn’t see him again, though it said there were numerous sightings reported around the world.
In 2009, San Diego became the first person suspected of domestic terrorism to be added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list.
Photos of him appeared on billboards from California to Massachusetts, along the border with Canada and in Times Square, the FBI said. He was featured several times on the TV program “America’s Most Wanted.”
The FBI said he worked as a computer network specialist, was a skilled sailor, and was known to carry a handgun.
The NCA said it arrested San Diego at a property in the Conwy area of Wales, which is near the coast. No other details were provided.