On the run from the law after having planted two bombs at a biotechnical corporation, one of America’s most wanted men sought refuge in the remote Welsh countryside.
Animal rights activist Daniel Andreas San Diego, 46, was listed as one of the world’s ‘most wanted terrorists’ after two bombs were detonated on an Emeryville campus in San Francisco, California, in August 2003.
The bombs went off an hour apart. Mercifully, no one was injured in the blasts.
San Diego fled the US and went to ground in rural Wales, where he vanished from authorities for 21 years.
He eventually arrived in the quiet hamlet of Maenan near Llanrwst, North Wales, under a new alias, Danny Webb.
The fugitive purchased a bungalow in 2023 for £425,000 and told his unsuspecting neighbours that he worked in IT.
It was here that his past finally caught up with him and where he was arrested a year later.
And now, as the property is put up to auction, the first pictures have emerged of the Welsh bolthole where he lived while on the run.
Daniel Andreas San Diego, 46, (pictured) was among the FBI’s ‘most wanted terrorists’ following two bombings in the area of San Francisco in August 2003
San Diego fled to the Welsh countryside and purchased an isolated bungalow on a hillside
The minimalist home hid San Diego, now known as Danny Webb, for the last year of his two decades on the run
San Diego was linked to a group called the Animal Liberation Brigade, who took credit for a number of bombings on corporations with ties to animal testing.
A year after the bombings in Emeryville, another bomb wrapped with nails to produce shrapnel was detonated at the Shaklee Corporation in Pleasanton, California.
Again, no one was injured, but the Animal Liberation Brigade again claimed responsibility for the attack.
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Both targets were linked with Huntingdon Life Sciences, an animal-testing laboratory which had its headquarters in Cambridgeshire in the UK.
San Diego was arrested and quizzed by police in America but went on the run after being released. His fingerprints were later found on bomb-making equipment.
He became the first domestic terror suspect on the FBI’s most wanted list and was described as ‘armed and dangerous’.
The bureau highlighted his talents ‘as a computer specialist’ and offered a $250,000 reward for his capture.
He moved to the UK and created his clever alias, replacing Daniel with Danny and boasting of his technological skills through his new surname – Webb.
Danny Webb was eight months older than San Diego and was born in Ireland, rather than the US.
The secluded home is only accessible via a single track lane followed by a dirt road and offers views across the Conwy Valley – and the main road into the hamlet
The lounge inside the home, with a log burner and a hole in the back wall
He has been allegedly linked to a bombing in Emeryville at a biotechnology corporation (Pictured in 2003)
In September 2003, a bomb wrapped in nails blew up at a nutritional products corporation in Pleasanton, however no one was injured, according to the FBI (Pictured: Emergency response in Emeryville in 2003)
Tucked away on a hillside in the countryside, San Diego found his perfect hideout.
Isolated from nearby houses and accessible only from a 1.5mile single-track road and a steep dirt track, the criminal would have found it easy to keep a low profile.
The hillside home gave him views across the Conwy Valley and a vantage point to see the A470, the only main road in and out of the hamlet.
The property had three bedrooms, a lounge and a kitchen-dining room, though San Diego is unlikely to have entertained too much company during his time there.
Previous owner Aled Evans, said the home was the ideal location ‘if you wanted to keep your head down’, having sold it to San Diego for £15,000 more than the asking price.
Mr Evans said: ‘He was quite excited because there was a big woodland at the back, he was into his mountain biking and that’s what sold it to him, apparently.
‘It sounded like the ideal place he wanted – but he wanted it for other reasons.’
San Diego had featured five times on the Fox programme America’s Most Wanted before he was eventually arrested in November 2024.
The National Crime Agency, alongside North Wales Police, took the fugitive into custody near Conwy.
He is currently being held at Belmarsh Prison in London and is facing extradition to the USA.
The property he left behind is now heading to auction for £300,000.
The alleged terrorist was found in a rural property near a woodland in the area of Conwy
Daniel Andreas San Diego pictured throughout the years on the top,alongside several computer touch-ups showing what he could possibly look like as the FBI hunted him
Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division Michael J. Heimbach announcing that San Diego had been arrested
The FBI said the 46-year-old was known to follow a vegan diet and would not eat meat or food containing animal products.
He was also known as a skilled sailor and had travelled internationally, the bureau said.
San Diego also had numerous tattoos, which may have been ‘significantly altered or covered with new tattoos’, the agency said.
In the centre of his chest one tattoo had a round image of burning hillsides alongside the words ‘it only takes a spark’.
The ex-computer network specialist also had tattoos of burning and collapsing buildings on his abdomen and lower back, as well as a single leafless tree on his lower back.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said: ‘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.’
‘Daniel San Diego’s arrest after more than 20 years… shows that no matter how long it takes, the FBI will find you and hold you accountable.’
An NCA spokesperson said of his address: ‘On Monday 25 November 2024, officers from the National Crime Agency, supported by colleagues from Counter Terrorism Policing and North Wales Police, arrested Daniel Andreas San Diego, aged 46, in the Conwy area of Wales, at the request of the US authorities.’
In February, WEstminster magistrates ruled that he could be extradited to the US.
The Home Secretary will make a final decision, which is expected to be a formality
