Daniel Andreas San Diego, considered one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives as well, was arrested on Nov. 25 in a rural area in northern Wales, according to the UK’s National Crime Agency. He was ordered held in custody after appearing on Nov. 26 in Westminster Magistrates’ Court and faces extradition.
San Diego, 46, is charged in the United States with planting two bombs that exploded about an hour apart in the early morning of Aug. 28, 2003, on the campus of a biotechnology company in Emeryville, California. He’s also accused of setting off another bomb with nails strapped to it at a nutritional products company in Pleasanton, California, a month later.
The bulletin stated that San Diego “has ties to animal rights extremist groups” and is “known to follow a vegan diet.” It added that he previously worked as a Linux operating system networking specialist.
San Diego grew up in an upper-middle-class suburb of Marin County, north of San Francisco. His father was the city manager of nearby Belvedere, a wealthy enclave. The FBI has also said San Diego worked as a computer network specialist, was a skilled sailor, and was known to carry a handgun.
“Animal rights and environmental extremism pose a significant domestic terror threat,” the notice said at the time, adding that such attacks were responsible for 1,800 criminal acts and tens of millions of dollars in damages.
A group called Revolutionary Cells-Animal Liberation Brigade claimed responsibility for the bombings, 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 on animals while under contract for pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and other companies.
Their probe was launched because of a “spike in calls for violence by radical eco-terrorists on U.S. college campuses and across the globe,” the lawmakers said, requesting a briefing from Wray in April. It’s not clear if Wray eventually provided the House lawmakers with the briefing they sought.
