Ex-fugitive 'offered deal' to inform on Most Wanted FBI 'terrorist' arrested in North Wales

FBI officers turned to a convicted activist to learn more about one of their most wanted fugitives, who was arrested this week in North Wales. Like Daniel Andreas San Diego, Peter Young was a former animal rights campaigner who had also been on the run and had spent time in the UK.

San Diego, 46, was arrested in Maenan, between Conwy and Llanrwst, on Monday, November 25. Local people have expressed astonishment that one of the FBI’s “most wanted terrorists” had been living quietly in the area.

In August 2023 he secured a Nationwide mortgage to buy a £425,000 detached bungalow using the alias Danny Webb. Telling previous owner Aled Evans he was a home-working IT specialist, San Diego appeared enamoured by spectacular balcony views from the property just off the A470.

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He said he was attracted by the idea of mountain biking in woodland behind the house. Mostly however, he was seen chopping wood beside his detached garage or driving around in his seven-year-old Seat. People living nearby said San Diego kept himself to himself but they knew he was American from his accent.

Judging from the contents of his bin, neighbours suspected he may have been a vegan, while an RSPB car sticker suggests he may have visited local bird reserves – the only clues to his animal activism leanings. "It all makes a lot of sense now," one local told MailOnline.

The FBI had been hunting the “animal rights extremist” for two decades. He was was alleged to have been involved in two office building bombings in San Francisco in 2003.

The agency said it considered him “armed and dangerous” and had offered a reward of up to $250,000 (£200,000) for information leading directly to his arrest. Although San Diego had vanished from it radar, the FBI never gave up the hunt and among those questioned was Peter Young, reports the Guardian. Sign up now for the latest news on the North Wales Live Whatsapp community

The 47-year-old, who now lives in Boulder, Colorado, went on the run after being indicted in 1998 over a series of fur farm raids. Seven years later, detectives caught up with him and he was jailed in the US for two years.

Young said that, years later, the agency twice sought information from him about San Diego and claimed he was even offered a deal to inform on him. But despite being a fellow activist, he said he had never met San Diego.

He told the Guardian: “Daniel Andreas San Diego is the longest-running animal rights fugitive in the history of the movement. I was number two, he beat my record. I was on the run for about seven-and-a-half years.”

Young said he knew nothing about San Diego’s life on the run – why he moved to Wales and how he’d made enough money to buy a £425,000 house in the Conwy Valley.

He said: “I did not live like it appeared Daniel Andreas San Diego was living at the time of his arrest,” he said. “I never had a stable home for those entire seven years, I never had stable income. I subsisted largely off shoplifting if I was going to be honest, and it was always precarious. I never was financially stable, I was always on the move.”

In 2019 Young was contacted by the FBI hoping he had infirmation on San Diego’s whereabouts. He got the impression the agency suspects that an “underground railroad” is spiriting wanted activists and other fugitives out of the country. Young said the idea was “almost laughable”.

San Diego was arrested by armed officers from the National Crime Agency, supported by Counter Terrorism Policing and North Wales Police, accompanied by a drone flying overhead. Within hours, he was being transported to London by the National Crime Agency – dubbed Britain’s FBI.

After appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court he was remanded into custody to await extradition to the US to face charges. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox

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