A suspected domestic terrorist wanted for three bombings in Northern California may be hiding in Hawaii, the FBI announced Wednesday.

Authorities are combing Hawaii’s Big Island and focusing on the Puna and Pahoa communities south of Hilo on the island’s eastern edge, where animal rights activist Daniel Andreas San Diego may be hiding, FBI officials said.

San Diego, 36, is accused of detonating two bombs on the campus of a biotechnology corporation in August 2003 and of setting off a bomb with nails strapped to it at a nutritional products company in Pleasanton a month later.

A federal arrest warrant was issued for San Diego in October 2003. The FBI added him to its Most Wanted Terrorist list in 2009, the first alleged domestic terrorist to be placed on it.


In efforts to avoid capture, he may have altered several distinct tattoos on his torso, authorities said.

In 2003, San Diego had several tattoos, including a round image of a burning hillside in the center of his chest with the words “It only takes a spark” printed in a semicircle underneath; burning and collapsing buildings on his sides and back; and a single leafless tree rising from a road on his lower back.

San Diego may also be recognizable for dealing mostly in cash, frequently changing his email address, using prepaid cellphones and using his computer or sailing skills as a source of income, the FBI said.

He may also be using his English skills for teaching or translating in a tourism-related field, officials said.


Authorities are offering up to $250,000 for information leading to his capture and conviction and warn he should be considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information on San Diego’s whereabouts is asked to contact their nearest FBI office or call 911. The FBI’s San Francisco office can be reached at (415) 553-7400. All calls are confidential, authorities said.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

Twitter: @josephserna