An alleged eco-terrorist from California who was finally caught after 21 years on the run is fighting extradition back to the U.S. arguing that the Trump administration won’t give him a fair trial.
Daniel Andreas San Diego, 47, vanished into the San Francisco fog in October 2003 while under FBI surveillance after allegedly detonating bombs at corporate offices in nearby Emeryville and Pleasanton — without killing or injuring anyone.
He was the first ever domestic terrorism suspect to be added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list, along with more infamous figures such as 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden. Yet for more than two decades, he eluded authorities.
That was until November 2023, when the Berkeley-born I.T. expert was finally discovered living a quiet, unassuming life more than 5,000 miles away in the picturesque Welsh village of Maenan.
Now his attorney is arguing in a British court that he must not be extradited back to his home country due to President Donald Trump’s “political capture of the justice system in America”.
In a hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court in central London on Monday, defense lawyer Mark Summers said he was concerned his client could be deported to El Salvador due to “political interference” from the Trump administration.
“The issue of political interference in the trial process, or prison designation process, is a significant issue in this case,” Summers said, according to the UK’s Daily Telegraph.
“One 50-paged report talks about the purge of the Department of Justice and the replacement of lawyers with politically influenced private lawyers.”
He said the report includes “disturbing examples” of such interference, including the saga of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — whose attorney David Patton was one of the report’s three expert witnesses — and Trump’s attacks on judges.
All three witnesses, he added, believed that “the system prevailing in America, Mr. San Diego is a politically disfavored case or person.”
The ‘straight edge’ rebel who dodged the FBI for decades
San Diego grew up in Marin County, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As he grew up, he adopted a “straight edge” lifestyle and became a hardcore vegan.
But in August 2003, two bombs exploded on the campus of the Chiron Life Science Center in Emeryville, with the second bomb apparently timed to target first responders.
One month later, a nail bomb detonated at the nutrition and beauty product distributor Shaklee Corporation in Pleasanton. Neither attacks caused any casualties.
A group calling itself the “Revolutionary Cells — Animal Liberation Brigade” claimed responsibility, demanding that both businesses cut all ties with Huntingdon Life Sciences, a major animal testing laboratory headquartered in Cambridgeshire, England.
FBI investigators believed that the bombings were linked to a British animal rights group called Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, which is accused of various firebombings, beatings, and non-violent direct action protests.
Daniel San Diego was soon put under FBI surveillance, having been stopped by unsuspecting police for a traffic violation immediately before the bombings.
On October 6, an FBI spy plane reportedly lost track of San Diego in one of San Francisco’s famous fall fog banks. Investigators then found his car near a metro station, with the engine still running and an alleged “bomb-making lab” in the trunk.
In 2004 he was indicted in his absence for alleged explosives and weapons offenses. The FBI placed a $250,000 reward on his head, saying he was a skilled programmer specializing in the open-source operating system Linux and that he was “known to possess a handgun”.
Yet it wasn’t until November 2024 when he was arrested under the name Danny Webb, living in a CCTV-ringed villa called Llidiart y Coed with a beautiful balcony view of the surrounding valley.
According to The Times of London, ‘Danny Webb’ initially denied being San Diego but was identified by his tattoos, which featured burning buildings, a tree growing out of a road, and a picture of a burning hillside with the legend: “It only takes a spark.”
