US fugitive to face extradition hearing

One of America’s most wanted men who was arrested in a property in rural Wales will face a full extradition hearing later this month.

Daniel Andreas San Diego was on the FBI’s most wanted terrorist list after bombings in San Francisco, California, in 2003 and evaded capture for 21 years.

He was arrested last November in a remote location near Maenan, near Llanrwst, Conwy.

He appeared by video link from Belmarsh Prison at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and District Judge Michael Snow set a date of 8 September for the full hearing.

The 46-year-old was held after an operation backed by counter terrorist police and North Wales Police on 26 November.

He now faces extradition to the US after being arrested at a property in a remote rural area near woodland in north Wales by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA).

At the time the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (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.”

He was born in Berkeley, California and was wanted for allegedly bombing two office buildings in the San Francisco area in 2003.

In August 2003, two bombs exploded about an hour apart on the campus of a biotechnology corporation, the FBI said.

A month later, a bomb strapped with nails exploded at a nutritional products corporation, according to the agency.

He became the first alleged “domestic terrorist” to be added to the agency’s most wanted terrorist list, saying he “should be considered armed and dangerous”.

There was a reward of $250,000 (£199,000) for information leading to his arrest.

The FBI has accused him of being an “animal rights extremist”.

According to reports, the agency’s last sighting of him was in 2003, when FBI agents were close in downtown San Francisco.

The FBI’s most wanted terrorist list was created by then President George W Bush in October 2001, weeks after the 11 September attacks on New York City and Washington DC.

President Bush said the list would “shine the light of justice” on terrorists, who he said “try to operate in the shadows”.

“Terrorism has a face, and today we expose it for the world to see,” he said.

The first list had 22 people on it, including Osama bin Laden, who is believed to have ordered the 9/11 attacks, and was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011.

In 2013, Joanne Chesimard, a convicted killer who was a member of the Black Liberation Army also known as Assata Shakur, became the first woman to be added to the list.

There are currently 24 people on the list.