Fugitive wanted in US for pair of bombings arrested in UK after 20 years on the run

AP Updated: 7:35 AM EST Nov 27, 2024
By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press


FILE - A photo of Daniel Andreas San Diego, top right, appears on a poster of the FBI's most wanted terrorists during a news conference announcing his addition to the most wanted terrorist list, Tuesday, April 21, 2009, at FBI Headquarters in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File) SOURCE: Haraz N. Ghanbari

LONDON — A suspected animal rights extremist wanted in the U.S. for bombings in the San Francisco area was arrested in Britain after more than 20 years on the run from the law, officials said Tuesday. ... Daniel Andreas San Diego, one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives, was arrested Monday in a rural area in northern Wales, the National Crime Agency said. He was ordered held in custody after appearing Tuesday in Westminster Magistrates’ Court and faces extradition.

San Diego, 46, is charged in the U.S. 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 bombings didn't injure anyone, but authorities said the bomb at the biotechnology company was intended to harm first responders.

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.

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