Daniel Andreas San Diego faces extradition after 21 years on run

Angharad ThomasBBC Information andWill FyfeBBC NewsFBIDaniel Andreas San Diego was arrested in November 2024, 21 years after the bombings in San FranciscoA suspected double bomber on the FBI’s most needed listing who vanished for 21 years is due in court docket this week to resolve if he will likely be despatched again to the US to face trial.The FBI consider Daniel Andreas San Diego has hyperlinks to animal rights extremist teams and is their prime suspect for a sequence of bombings within the San Francisco Bay Space in 2003.Former FBI brokers have stated there have been “missed alternatives” to arrest the 47-year-old earlier than he vanished and declare they discovered a suspected “bomb-making manufacturing unit” in his deserted automobile after what detectives known as a 65-mile (104km) rush-hour chase in California.Mr San Diego was discovered 5,000 miles (8,000km) away in a cottage in north Wales final yr.Mr San Diego, who had a $250,000 (£199,000) bounty on his head, faces a five-day extradition listening to at Westminster Magistrates Court docket in London on Monday to seek out out if the UK will hand him over to the US to reply a federal arrest warrant.The previous fugitive, the primary born-and-raised American on the FBI’s most needed terrorist listing, has been indicted by US prosecutors for maliciously damaging and destroying by the use of an explosive after two separate assaults in 2003.Getty ImagesDaniel Andreas San Diego (high proper) was featured on the FBI’s most needed terrorists listing, alongside the likes of Osama Bin LadenAnimal rights extremist group Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade claimed duty for the assaults on corporations they believed had hyperlinks with organisations that examined merchandise on animals.Former FBI Particular Agent David Smith was a part of a particular operations group that had been watching Mr San Diego.”He was outstanding by being unremarkable,” Mr Smith, one of many bureau’s high surveillance specialists, informed the BBC.”He was comparatively younger and regular, there was nothing to counsel this man was beginning to look violent. We by no means acquired any indication he was conscious of us.”Chrion SecurityCCTV footage captures the silhouette of a person who the FBI consider is Daniel Andreas San Diego strolling across the Chiron Life Science Heart in Emeryville across the time of an explosion on the biotechnology firmThe FBI felt it had sufficient intelligence to counsel Mr San Diego was its prime suspect and thought it was him that planted the gadgets that detonated a month aside.However supervisory particular agent Andrew Black, a part of the FBI’s counter-terrorism media staff, recalled: “The US Lawyer’s Workplace and case brokers had been making a call whether or not to arrest him now or develop extra info.”The hope was he’d lead us to different members of this animal rights group that had been utilizing violence to advertise their agenda.”Two bombs exploded at a biotechnology company in Emeryville, close to Oakland, USA, on 28 August 2003, with investigators believing the second bomb was planted to focus on first responders.Then a bomb strapped with nails exploded at a dietary merchandise firm in Pleasanton, 30 miles (48km) east of the primary blast, on 26 September 2003. No-one was injured in both bombing.Getty ImagesPolice and FBI officers on the scene of two explosions on the outdated Chiron biotechnology analysis heart in Emeryville within the San Francisco Bay Space in 2003The FBI’s former surveillance specialists had been informed Mr San Diego was developed as a agency suspect and had been requested to observe him with an “arrest being imminent”.”We had been taking a look at somebody who we expect has achieved a number of bombings and a home terrorist,” recalled Mr Smith.Mr Smith and his former colleague Clyde Foreman, a former supervisory particular agent, recall urging their colleagues to make the arrest as soon as he had been recognized as the primary suspect.Mr Black, an agent of 27 years, added: “Nearly as good as you may be, the longer you keep surveillance finally they are going to discover one thing uncommon and get spooked.”There was frustration they weren’t given the inexperienced gentle to arrest him as they stated there may be potential if he leaves, he is going to have the ability to detonate extra bombs.”Chrion SecurityCCTV footage of the explosion from the within of the Chiron Life Science Heart in Emeryville, and the FBI consider Daniel Andreas San Diego is the prime suspectThe day earlier than Mr San Diego went off the FBI’s radar, Mr Smith was hiding in camouflage outdoors his dwelling.Hours after Mr Smith and the FBI’s surveillance specialists went off shift, he stated Mr San Diego made a run for it with detectives in pursuit.”Virtually from the time he got here out of his home, he was appearing frantically,” recalled Mr Smith.”His driving patterns modified. The place he was going, he was driving erratically which is typical of somebody attempting to evade surveillance.”Brokers stated he drove south from his dwelling in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, weaved previous commuters, by tunnels and over toll bridges in an hour-long motorway chase that led to downtown San Francisco.Getty ImagesFBI brokers on the web site of the second gadget they believe Daniel Andreas San Diego planted on the Shaklee Company Headquarters in Pleasanton in September 2003Not even the FBI’s spy planes might maintain eyes on their goal as San Francisco’s notorious fog blocked their view as Mr San Diego slipped the online.Mr San Diego left his automobile with the engine nonetheless operating, at a busy metropolis centre junction subsequent to a subway station, and wasn’t seen once more.”The staff that adopted him had been pondering he parked the automobile and went a couple of blocks up the road to a location close by, both recognized to the animal rights group or he had a reference to,” recalled Mr Smith, an FBI agent of 33 years.”I requested ‘did anybody see him go in or is anybody watching that place proper now?’ They did not.”The automobile was parked in a bus zone subsequent to the subway and we stated ‘we expect he is gone’.”A map of the important thing areas within the FBI’s pursuit of Daniel Andreas San Diego in 2003Mr Foreman felt the identical.”We knew he was within the wind and it will be actually tough to seek out him,” he recalled.”The case squad was working beneath the belief that San Diego was utilizing a residence for his bomb making.”When he deserted his automobile, we discovered his bomb-making lab was within the trunk of his automobile.”Getty ImagesThe FBI’s assistant director of counter-terrorism Michael J. Heimbach tells a press convention why Daniel Andreas San Diego was being positioned on the FBI’s most needed terrorist listMr Smith watched because the boot opened and admitted for a detective, it was “every little thing you ever needed”.”Had we recognized that, he’d have actually been arrested days prior,” he added.”It was validating to say there it was. We felt assured that this was the man straight away. We had been very skilled brokers and knew a suspect once we noticed one.”It was undoubtedly a missed alternative.”FBIMr San Diego was the primary suspected home terrorist positioned on the FBI’s most needed listThe double bombing got here two years after the 9/11 assaults and the US was on excessive alert, so division chief Mr Foreman was of the view: “After getting anyone recognized, arrest him.”Mr San Diego was a pc community specialist born in Berkeley, California, and introduced up in an higher middle-class space of the San Francisco Bay Space. His father was a metropolis supervisor.Former Scotland Yard undercover detective and Hunted TV present skilled Peter Bleksley feels that fugitive Daniel Andreas San Diego should have had assist to get to the UKThe FBI labored on monitoring Mr San Diego for years after his disappearance, watching household and associates to see if they might lead brokers to him. However the scent went chilly. They believed he had most likely fled to central or South America.Mr San Diego was indicted within the US District Court docket in 2004 and the FBI thought of him armed and harmful.Then, after 21 years of nothing and each Mr Smith and Mr Foreman retiring from the bureau, they heard one in all their most infamous fugitives had been detained within the UK after being present in an remoted cottage on a north Wales hillside.Aled EvansDaniel Andreas San Diego lived at Llidiart y Coed, a distant cottage close to the village of Maenan within the Conwy valley, which is the one home up a slim woodland trailThe UK’s Nationwide Crime Company (NCA) and counter-terror police swooped in November 2024, arresting Mr San Diego who had been utilizing the alias Danny Webb within the Conwy valley, close to the market city of Llanrwst.”I consider he had some assist – you are not chasing Jason Bourne,” stated Mr Foreman. “He was not a talented intelligence officer. He needed to have assist.”PA MediaDaniel Andreas San Diego was arrested in north Wales on 21 November 2024The FBI stated it might not remark concerning the potential missed alternatives to arrest Mr San Diego.However on the time of his arrest, FBI Director Christopher Wray stated: “Daniel San Diego’s arrest after greater than 20 years as a fugitive for 2 bombings within the San Francisco space exhibits that irrespective of how lengthy it takes, the FBI will discover you and maintain you accountable.”Mr San Diego, who’s being held on the excessive safety Belmarsh Jail in London, has declined to remark.