Fugitive wanted in the US for Bay Area bombings arrested in UK after 20 years on the run
By Lena Howland, Tim Johns
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PLEASANTON, California (KGO) — One of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists has been arrested overseas for two bombings that happened in the San Francisco Bay Area more than 20 years ago.
The FBI says 46-year-old Daniel San Diego was taken into custody in the United Kingdom.
After more than 20 years on the run, San Diego was captured by authorities in a rural part of North Wales.
San Diego, a Berkeley native and known animal rights extremist, is charged with planting two bombs that exploded about an hour apart back in 2003 on the campus of a biotech company in Emeryville that used to be called Chiron Corporation.
The FBI says security video shows San Diego walking outside just before the explosions.
The first blast happened near the entrance.
The second, in the parking lot.
A month later, a third bomb, which the FBI says San Diego built, exploded at the Pleasanton headquarters of a nutritional products company called Shaklee Corporation.
Within days, the FBI launched a domestic terrorism case.
“It is a matter of time before someone is killed and that is a very sobering thought,” LaRae Quy, an FBI special agent said back in 2003.
In 2009, San Diego became the first person suspected of domestic terrorism to be added to the FBI’s most wanted terrorist list.
Up until his arrest, investigators said San Diego was last seen in 2003 when the FBI was closing in on him on Market Street in San Francisco.
“He parked his car, got out of his vehicle and started walking down the street and if I’m not mistaken, he went into a BART station and that was the last time we’ve seen him,” David Johnson, the FBI special agent in charge of the San Francisco division said in 2013.
Following San Diego’s arrest, ABC7 News reporter Lena Howland briefly talked to the suspect’s 78-year-old father, Ed San Diego over the phone Tuesday morning.
He’s the retired Belvedere city manager, still living in Marin County.
He said he has “nothing to say at this point.”
“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,” said FBI director Christopher Wray. “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.”
Robert Tripp, the FBI special agent in charge of the San Francisco Office says, “Today’s successful announcement is a testament to the relentless efforts by the FBI and the invaluable support of our federal and international partners.”
San Diego is believed to have been a part of an organization called the Animal Liberation Brigade.
Jerry Vlasak, who is a press officer for a for a different animal rights group, says the brigade hasn’t been active in over a decade.
“These organizations are not really card-carrying memberships that you can sign up to. They’re more like ideologically people get together and say we’re going to get together and act on behalf of this organization. They’re basically independent cells,” said Vlasak.
Vlasak says while he never met San Diego he remembers the incident occurring.
He tells ABC7 News reporter Tim Johns he believes these locations were targeted specifically for the work they did with other companies that had labs involved with animal testing.
“This organization felt like, well we’ve tried all the peaceful mean;: we’ve asked nicely, we’ve protested, we’ve even gone to people’s homes and protested in this particular case in that campaign, and nothing’s working. So we’re going to bump it up a notch,” said Vlasak.
San Diego appeared in a London courtroom Tuesday.
He now faces extradition.
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