A secret interview of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, the notorious drug lord rearrested on Saturday, with United States actor Sean Penn helped authorities locate his whereabouts, a Mexican law enforcement official said.

The world's most-wanted drug trafficker was arrested after a shootout in Los Mochis in his home state of Culiacan, six months after he escaped Mexico's 'most-secure' prison.

Five people were killed during the operation that led to the recapture of Guzman, who has twice escaped from prison.

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

On Sunday, a Mexican official said it was the interview with Penn that led authorities to Guzman in a rural part of Durango state in October. The raid was aborted at the time because he was with two women and child. But they were able to track him to Los Mochis, Sinaloa, were he was captured on Saturday.

The interview between Guzman and Penn, purportedly held in late 2015 in a hideout in Mexico, appeared on Saturday on the website of Rolling Stone magazine.