Sean Penn interviewed world's most wanted drug lord 'El Chapo'

Hollywood star Sean Penn conducted a secret interview with Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman after he escaped a high-security prison.

The interview was staged at a secret location in the Mexican jungle in October and is being published after the world’s most wanted drug trafficker was arrested on Friday.

An operation to arrest Guzman saw five people killed during a shootout in his home state of Culiacan.

It came six months after he embarrassed the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto by escaping from Mexico's most-secure prison in his second successful jail break.

Mexico Attorney General Arely Gomez said on Friday that Guzman's contact with actors and producers for a possible biopic helped give law enforcement a new lead on tracking and capturing the world's most notorious drug kingpin.

Now a Mexican official has revealed that it was the Penn interview that led the authorities to Guzman in a rural part of Durango state in October.

They aborted their raid at the time because he was with two women and child, but were then able to track him to Los Mochis, Sinaloa, where he was captured.

In the interview published by Rolling Stone magazine, Penn describes the complicated security measures he took to meet the drug lord. The men discuss topics ranging from drug trafficking to the Middle East.

The magazine says the meeting was brokered by Mexican actress Kate del Castillo. Its website has a two-minute video it says is the first exclusive interview with Guzman.

It is in Spanish and in it Guzman sits in front of a chain link face and speaks to a camera. He is wearing a blue shirt and dark baseball cap, but his face is clearly visible. Accompanying the article is a picture of Penn shaking hands with Guzman.

Asked about who is to blame for drug trafficking, Guzman is quoted as saying: "If there was no consumption, there would be no sales. It is true that consumption, day after day, becomes bigger and bigger. So it sells and sells."

In the Rolling Stone article, Penn wrote that Guzman was interested in having a film made about his life. He said Guzman wanted Mexican actress del Castillo involved in the project.

"He was interested in seeing the story of his life told on film, but would entrust its telling only to Kate," wrote Penn.

Meanwhile a senior law enforcement officer said Mexico is willing to extradite Guzman to the US, a sharp reversal from the official position after his last capture in 2014.

"Mexico is ready. There are plans to co-operate with the US," said the official.

But he warned there could be a lengthy wait before US prosecutors can get their hands on Guzman: "You have to go through the judicial process, and the defence has its elements too."

Guzman faces drug-trafficking charges in several US states.