FBI’s ‘first domestic terrorist’ caught from Wales after 21 years on the run

ONE of America’s most wanted men, Daniel Andreas San Diego, was finally arrested in rural north Wales, having spent the past 21 years on the run, BBC News reported.

The 46-year-old suspect was wanted by the FBI for allegedly bombing two office buildings in San Francisco in 2003.

The FBI has accused Diego of being “an animal rights extremist” involved in a series of bombings in San Francisco. The first bombing happened in August 2003, outside the Chiron Life Science Center in Emeryville, California.

A second bomb was found at the site by authorities but exploded before it could be defused. The agency said that raised the possibility the device was planted specifically to target first responders.

Animal rights extremist’ Daniel Andreas San Diego was wanted for his role in 2003 San Francisco blasts

Less than a month later, in September 2003, a nail bomb exploded outside a nutritional products corporation based in Pleasanton, California.

He became the first “domestic terrorist” to be added to the agency’s most wanted terrorist list, created by then-President George W Bush in October 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, according to a BBC report.

But why would the suspect, who was born in Berkeley, California, choose to hide out in Maenan in the remote outskirts of the sleepy market town of Llanrwst in the Conwy valley? And of all the countries in the world, why Wales?

“It’s beautiful… if you’re trying to evade capture, you might as well be somewhere that’s stunning and beautiful,” though picking somewhere so remote had pros and cons, former undercover detective Peter Bleksley told BBC News.

“Being remote you can be living in a property where neighbours can’t see you, the public’s prying eyes are a long way away and you’re not going to face uncomfortable questions like you might do if you were living in a terraced house in a city, for example,” he said.

He said there would also be benefits to choosing to hide in a big city. “You could be anonymous because people don’t talk to each other, they sit cheek by jowl on the bus or on the tube and still don’t speak to each other, if you say hello to people they think you’re a nutter, so cities are sometimes favoured because of the anonymity they can offer,” he said. “The flip side of that, of course, is CCTV is everywhere in our major cities, which is a concern for fugitives.”

Diego was held after an operation backed by counter terrorist police and North Wales Police on last Monday. He now faces extradition to the US after being arrested at a property in a remote rural area near woodland in north Wales.

Aled Evans told how he unknowingly sold his home to Diego. He said in August 2023, using the name Danny Webb, Diego had paid £425,000 for the white villa with a balcony offering striking views near Llanrwst in August 2023.

Reflecting on recent events he has realised it was the ideal location “if you wanted to keep your head down”.

Peter believes it was most likely the purchase of this property that marked the start of the end of Diego’s life on the run. “Maybe purchasing that property created the electronic footprint opportunity for the FBI to exploit, which therefore led to his capture,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2024