A suspected eco-terrorist has appeared in court after he was tracked down to a remote Welsh village after more than 20 years on the run.
Daniel Andreas San Diego, 46, was found in a house in Maenan, north Wales – a settlement so small it doesn’t have a pub or shop.
He is charged with planting two bombs that were set to detonate an hour apart at a biotech company in Emeryville, California, in 2003.
The second is believed to have been timed in order to harm emergency crews when they were at the scene.
He is also accused of planting a nail bomb at a nutritional products firm in Pleasanton a month later.
The FBI claims San Diego has ties to animal rights extremist group Revolutionary Cells-Animal Liberation Brigade, which claimed responsibility for the bombings.
He spent two decades on the run but was eventually detained in Maenan by the UK’s National Crime Agency on November 25.
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video link today from Belmarsh Prison for a two- minute hearing. His next appearance will be on New Year’s Eve.
San Diego became the first person suspected of domestic terrorism to be added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list in 2009.
A $250,000 bounty was put on his head with images of him appearing on billboards across the US.
He was last seen in the San Francisco on October 6, 2003, when he parked his car, went into a nearby transit station and was never seen again. What he has been doing in the intervening years and how he ended up in Maenan remains a mystery.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said: ‘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.
‘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.’
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