PLEASANTON, Calif. (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.
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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.
San Diego is charged in the U.S. with planting two bombs that exploded about an hour apart on Aug. 28, 2003.
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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.
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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.
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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 appeared in a London courtroom Tuesday.
He now faces extradition.
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