FBI fugitive found hiding in Wales must hand over £20k in frozen assets

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Telor IwanBBC News

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Daniel Andreas San Diego is due to be extradited to the USA to face terror-related charges

A suspected terrorist who hid from the FBI in a remote north Wales cottage has had more than £20,000 in frozen assets confiscated by police.

Daniel Andreas San Diego was discovered in a rural hideaway in the Conwy valley in 2024. This was 21 years after disappearing in California, moments before officers were about to arrest him on suspicion of planting three nail bombs.

He lost his fight against an extradition order last month and is awaiting his removal to the USA from Belmarsh Prison in London.

A district judge in Llandudno earlier approved a forfeiture application by North Wales Police to confiscate the contents of his bank accounts.

Aled Evans

The home bought by San Diego for £415,000 a year before he was arrested in 2024.

San Diego was arrested by the National Crime Agency following a raid near Llanrwst on a bungalow, he had bought from a local couple in 2023.

He was found with an Irish passport in the name of Danny Webb and had worked as an IT consultant during his two decades on the run.

Attempts by North Wales Police to seize assets in Webb’s name were initially opposed by San Diego and the accounts containing more than £20,000 were frozen.

However, district judge Anita Price heard the application was no longer being contested and she ordered his known assets be seized.

• ‘I sold my house to man on FBI’s most wanted list’

An artist impression of San Diego appearing via video link from HM Prison Belmarsh during the extradition hearing.

San Diego, an animal rights activist from Berkeley, was accused by the US Government of planting three nail bombs at two factories in California in 2003.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard in February that no-one was hurt when they detonated and a group called the Animal Liberation Brigade, Revolutionary Cells, later claimed responsibility.

However, San Diego became a prime suspect when he was stopped by police close to one of the factories. He was released, after which he vanished.

The court heard his fingerprints were later found among some bomb-making equipment in his abandoned car.

San Diego was considered one of America’s most wanted fugitives and had featured five times on the Fox programme America’s Most Wanted.

It is not known whether he has lodged an appeal against his extradition. The Home Office said it did not comment on individual cases.

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