A Bay Area man accused in a series of 2003 pipe-bomb attacks is trying to convince British judges not to send him back to the United States. Daniel Andreas San Diego, a Berkeley native arrested in rural north Wales in November 2024 after more than 20 years on the run, has told a Westminster court he fears he will not get a fair trial if extradited. The London case has already heard key evidence and is set to move into closing arguments later this month, with a decision expected in early January 2026.
San Diego was detained on Nov. 25, 2024, at a property near Maenan in Conwy, Wales, in an operation led by the National Crime Agency and backed by counter terrorism police, according to AP News. He has been held at high-security HMP Belmarsh while UK courts weigh a U.S. extradition request. Hoodline first broke news of his capture in a piece on the 20-year manhunt.
What prosecutors allege
Federal prosecutors say San Diego is the prime suspect in three 2003 pipe-bomb incidents in the Bay Area, two at the Chiron biotechnology campus in Emeryville and a third outside a building that houses Shaklee in Pleasanton, that damaged offices but injured no one, according to the FBI. He was indicted in 2004 in the Northern District of California and later added to the FBI Most Wanted list, officials say.
Evidence in London
At the Westminster hearing, prosecutors told judges that FBI searches in 2003 uncovered what they described as a mobile bomb-making kit and chemical containers bearing San Diego’s fingerprints, and that a wire-stripper recovered from his car had crimp marks that matched copper wiring from the blasts, according to The Guardian. Court timetables indicate that the final days of evidence will be wrapped up on Dec. 8, with closing arguments scheduled for Dec. 23, and a senior magistrate is expected to rule in early January 2026, according to the same reporting.
Defense pushes political and human-rights claims
San Diego’s legal team has framed the extradition battle around the risk of political interference in his case and concerns about his safety if he is returned to U.S. custody, according to courtroom reporting by Reuters. Prosecutors counter that their case is built on physical evidence and contemporaneous communiqués claiming responsibility for the attacks.
Legal stakes
Suppose he is extradited and convicted on the stacked federal counts. In that case, San Diego faces a potentially lengthy prison term, with reporting putting his exposure at decades and, depending on sentencing enhancements, as much as 90 years behind bars, according to The Guardian. The charges include explosives and destructive-device counts that carry long mandatory minimum sentences under U.S. law. His lawyers argue that those heavy penalties make the extradition decision especially weighty.
What’s next
With most of the evidence now in, the court is set to hear closing arguments and then decide whether to order San Diego’s return to the United States. If extradited, he could still seek further review in the UK courts. Observers say the case will test how British judges balance treaty obligations with human rights concerns in politically sensitive extradition cases, according to reporting by AP News.
