US Fugitive Captured in Rural Wales After 21 Years on the Run

Earlier this week, one of America’s most sought-after individuals was finally apprehended in rural north Wales, having evaded capture for the past 21 years. Daniel Andreas San Diego, 46, was wanted by the FBI for allegedly bombing two office buildings in San Francisco in 2003. This raises questions about why the suspect, a native of Berkeley, California, chose to conceal himself in Maenan, located in the remote outskirts of the tranquil market town of Llanrwst in the Conwy valley. And of all the countries globally, why Wales? “It’s beautiful… if you’re trying to evade capture, you might as well be somewhere that’s stunning and beautiful,” stated former undercover detective Peter Bleksley. Peter, who is perhaps most recognized for his role in apprehending fictional fugitives on Channel 4’s TV show Hunted, commented that selecting such a remote location presented both advantages and disadvantages. “Being remote you can be living in a property where neighbours can’t see you, the public’s prying eyes are a long way away and you’re not going to face uncomfortable questions like you might do if you were living in a terraced house in a city, for example,” he said. He also noted potential benefits to choosing to hide in a large city. “You could be anonymous because people don’t talk to each other, they sit cheek by jowl on the bus or on the tube and still don’t speak to each other, if you say hello to people they think you’re a nutter, so cities are sometimes favoured because of the anonymity they can offer,” he said. “The flip side of that, of course, is CCTV is everywhere in our major cities, which is a concern for fugitives.” Mr San Diego, whom the FBI has previously labeled an “animal rights extremist,” was detained on Monday following an operation supported by counter-terrorist police and North Wales Police. He now faces extradition to the US after his arrest at a property situated in a remote rural area near woodland in north Wales. Earlier this week, Aled Evans recounted how he unknowingly sold his residence to Mr San Diego. He stated that in August 2023, Mr San Diego, using the name Danny Webb, paid £425,000 for the white villa, which features a balcony offering impressive views of rolling hills and a meticulously maintained garden near Llanrwst in August 2023. Reflecting on recent events, Evans has realized it was the ideal location “if you wanted to keep your head down.” Peter believes that the purchase of this property most likely marked the beginning of the end of Mr San Diego’s life as a fugitive. “Maybe purchasing that property created the electronic footprint opportunity for the FBI to exploit, which therefore led to his capture,” he said. “Gone are the days when drug dealers could walk into an estate agents with carrier bags full of cash and literally go ‘I’ll buy that flat or I’ll buy that house’ because of course we have money laundering regulations, banks have to ask certain questions of people if they transfer a sizable sum of money. If anybody involved in that process, be it estate agent bank, solicitors, had any suspicions as to the money trail and they flagged it up to the authorities, that would start an investigation.” Although he has spent his career pursuing others, Peter possesses some personal experience of what it is like to live a life in hiding. While working at Scotland Yard’s undercover unit, his identity was compromised, and he had to enter witness protection. “Living a life continually looking over your shoulder is very unpleasant,” he said. “You’re always fearful of that knock on the door… it can be very draining, although the longer you do it, the more you get used to it.” He noted that living in such a manner for an extended period could lead to careless errors. “That’s the danger, and, of course, keeping your guard up all the time requires constant vigilance, which is draining… maybe his guard did drop just a little bit.” Throughout his career, Peter has gained considerable insight into the behavior of fugitives. “I’ve caught real ones when I was a detective and I caught many pretend ones when I was the chief in Hunted,” he said. So, having observed the mistakes that lead to capture, what advice would he offer to someone who wishes to remain concealed? “Be nice to people,” he said. “If you’re nice, they’ll feed you, they’ll clothe you, they’ll take you where you want to go, they’ll give you cash or other financial means. If you’re not, if you’re unpleasant and you upset people, they’ll pick up the phone and grass you up.” He holds these theories, but Peter is eager to discover the truth about what led to Mr San Diego’s arrest. “I do hope we get to find out how it was caught, how it all unravelled because it’ll be great,” he said. “And I suspect Netflix are all over this story already.” Maenan is situated just off the A470, one of the primary roads traversing north Wales, approximately 10 miles (16km) from Conwy. It is a sprawling community comprising farms and isolated cottages, many of which are now holiday homes or holiday lets. There is no shop or village pub. Many of the properties encountered on the way to Llidiart y Coed appear to be holiday homes. The FBI has accused Mr San Diego of being “an animal rights extremist” involved in a series of bombings in San Francisco. The first bombing occurred in August 2003, outside the Chiron Life Science Center in Emeryville, California. A second bomb was discovered at the site by authorities but detonated before it could be defused. The agency stated that this raised the possibility the device was planted specifically to target first responders. Less than a month later, in September 2003, a nail bomb exploded outside a nutritional products corporation based in Pleasanton, California. He became the first “domestic terrorist” to be added to the agency’s most wanted terrorist list, which was created by then-President George W Bush in October 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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