A suspected double bomber on the FBI's most wanted list who vanished for 21 years is due in court this week to decide if he will be sent back to the United States to face trial.
The FBI believe Daniel Andreas San Diego has links to animal rights extremist groups and is their prime suspect for a series of bombings in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2003.
Former FBI agents have said there were 'missed opportunities' to arrest the 47-year-old before he vanished and claim they found a suspected 'bomb-making factory' in his abandoned car after what detectives called a 65-mile (104km) rush-hour chase in California.
Mr San Diego was found 5,000 miles (8,000km) away in a cottage in north Wales last year.
Mr San Diego, who had a $250,000 (£199,000) bounty on his head, faces a five-day extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Monday to find out if the UK will hand him over to the United States to answer a federal arrest warrant.
The former fugitive, the first born-and-raised American on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list, has been indicted by US prosecutors for maliciously damaging and destroying by means of an explosive after two separate attacks in 2003.
Animal rights extremist group Revolutionary Cells - Animal Liberation Brigade claimed responsibility for the attacks on firms they believed had links with organisations that tested products on animals.
Mr San Diego, who was born in Berkeley, California, was living under the alias 'Danny Webb' in the Conwy valley, near the market town of Llanrwst when he was arrested by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and counter-terror police in November 2024.
His case highlights the challenges of tracking international fugitives, especially those who may receive assistance while in hiding.
The FBI's former surveillance specialists were told Mr San Diego was developed as a firm suspect and were asked to watch him with an 'arrest being imminent'. However, as time went on, their efforts fizzled, and San Diego remained elusive until recently.
Diving into his case, it's noted that feasible oversight could have prevented his escape when FBI agents were reportedly close to making an arrest.
FBI Director Christopher Wray remarked on San Diego's apprehension, emphasizing that the FBI will ultimately find and hold accountable those who evade justice.
