Daniel Andreas San Diego faces extradition after 21 years of running

The FBI’s most wanted list has a suspected twin bomber cancelled in court for 21 years this week to decide whether it will be sent back to the United States to face trial.

The FBI believes Daniel Andreas San Diego has ties to animal rights extremist groups and is the main suspect in a series of bombings in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2003.

Former FBI agents have said there was a “missed opportunity” to arrest the 47-year-old before he disappeared and claimed they found a suspected “bomb manufacturing plant” in his abandoned car as detectives held a 65-mile (104km) high-speed chase in California.

Mr. San Diego was found 5,000 miles (8,000 km) A cabin in North Wales last year.

Mr. Santiago has a bounty of $250,000 (£199,000) on his head Five-day extradition hearing On Monday, in Westminster District Court in London, to find out if Britain handed him over to the United States to answer a federal arrest warrant.

The former fugitive, the first American born and raised on the FBI’s list of terrorists most wanted, was prosecuted by U.S. prosecutors for malicious destruction and destruction caused by malicious deeds and destruction.

Animal Rights Extremist Group Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade claims responsibility for attacks they believe are related to the organization that tests products against animals.

Former FBI agent David Smith, a member of a special operations team, has been watching Mr. San Diego.

“His outstanding performance is not obvious,” Smith, one of the bureau’s top surveillance experts, told the BBC.

“He’s still young and nothing can hint that this guy is starting to appear violent. We never have any indication that he knows us.”

The FBI believes there is enough intelligence to show that Mr. San Diego is his main suspect and believes that he has planted the device a month apart.

But Andrew Black, a part of the FBI’s anti-terrorism media team, recalled: “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Case Agent are deciding whether to arrest him immediately or develop more information.

“Hopefully he brings us to other members of this animal rights organization, who use violence to promote its agenda.”

On August 28, 2003, two bombs exploded at a biotech company in Emeryville, near Oakland, USA. Investigators believe the second bomb was implanted into the target first responders.

Then, on September 26, 2003, a bomb exploded at a nutritional product company in Pleasanton, 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of the first explosion.

A former FBI surveillance expert was told Mr. San Diego was developed as a suspect and was asked to watch him “approached”.

“We’re looking at someone we think had had multiple explosions and family terrorists,” Mr Smith recalled.

Mr. Smith and his former colleague, Clyde Foreman, were former supervisory agents, recalled urging their colleagues to arrest him once they were identified as the main suspect.

Mr. Black, 27, added: “The longer they keep surveillance as long as possible, they will notice something unusual and feel fear.

“The frustration is that they didn’t give him a green light to arrest him because they said he would be able to detonate other bombs if he left.”

Mr. Smith hid in his disguise outside his home the day before Mr. San Diego left the FBI radar.

He said Mr. San Diego ran for detectives in pursuit hours after Mr. Smith and FBI surveillance experts got off work.

“Everything from the moment he came out, he was acting frantically.”

“The way he drives has changed. Where he is going, he drives normally, which is a typical feature of a person trying to escape surveillance.”

Agents said he headed south from his home in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, weaved past commuters through tunnels and ended an hour of highway chase in downtown San Francisco in an hour of highway chase.

Even the FBI spy planes couldn’t focus on the target, as San Francisco’s infamous mist blocked their views as Mr. San Diego slid off the net.

Mr. San Diego, at the junction of a busy city center next to the subway station, left his car and never saw it again.

“The team that followed him was thinking he parked his car in the car, walked a few blocks down the street to a nearby location, either known to the animal rights group or connected with him,” recalled FBI agent Smith.

“I asked ‘Anyone saw him in or was someone looking at that place?’ They didn’t.

“The car was parked in the bus area next to the subway and we said ‘we think he’s gone’.”

Mr. Foreman feels the same way.

“We knew he was in the wind and it was hard to find him,” he recalled.

“The Case Squad’s action is the assumption that a residence is being used for bomb manufacturing in San Diego.

“When he gave up on the car, we found his bomb manufacturing lab in his car dry.”

Mr. Smith watched the boots open and accepted the detective, which was “everything you want.”

He added: “If we knew, he would have been arrested a few days ago.”

“Say it’s verified. We’re confident this is that guy. We’re very experienced agents and we know a suspect when we see someone.

“It’s definitely a missed opportunity.”

The double bombing happened two years later 9/11 Attack The Americans are on high alert, so the view of the head of the department is: “Once you are sure, arrest him.”

Mr. San Diego is a computer network expert born in Berkeley, California, and grew up in a middle-class area of ​​the San Francisco Bay Area. His father was a city manager.

Years after the FBI disappeared, dedicated to tracking Mr. San Diego, watching family and friends to see if they could lead agents. But the smell became cold. They thought he might have fled to Central America or South America.

Mr. San Diego was indicted in U.S. District Court in 2004, and the FBI believes he is armed and dangerous.

Then, after 21 years of nothing, Mr. Smith and Mr. Industry both retired from the agency, and they heard that one of their most notorious fugitives was detained in England in an isolated hut on the hillside of North Wales.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) and Counter-terrorism police attacked violently in November 2024 to arrest Mr. San Diego, who has been in the alias Danny Webb of Conwy Valley near the market town of Llanrwst.

“I believe he has some support – you’re not chasing Jason Bourne,” Mr Foreman said.

“He is not a skilled intelligence officer. He must be supported.”

The FBI said it would not comment on the possible missed opportunity to arrest Mr. San Diego.

However, at the time of arrest, FBI Director Christopher Wray said: “Daniel San Diego was arrested after the fugitive in the San Francisco area, showing that the FBI will find you and take responsibility no matter how long it takes.”

Mr Santiago was held in London’s Senior Security Belmarsh Prison, and he declined to comment.