Mexico says Sean Penn interview helped nab El Chapo

An interview given by Mexican drug lord Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman to American actor Sean Penn helped authorities locate his whereabouts, according to a Mexican law-enforcement official.

Guzman, the infamous boss of the Sinaloa drug cartel, was arrested in northwest Mexico on Friday morning, and sent back to the prison he broke out of in July through a mile-long tunnel that led straight into his cell.

Mexican authorities became aware of the meeting between Penn, a Mexican actress and Guzman in October and monitored Penn's movements, helping lead them to a ranch where the capo was staying, two senior government sources said.

An anonymous Mexican official said it was the Penn interview that led authorities to Guzman in a rural part of Durango state in October. 

News of Penn's secret meeting came as Mexican officials weighed the possibility of extraditing Guzman to the US, something they had ruled out earlier.

Authorities aborted an earlier raid because Guzman was with two women and a child. But they were able to track him to Los Mochis, Sinaloa, where he was captured on Friday.

He was arrested after a shootout in Los Mochis, six months after he escaped Mexico's most-secure prison. Five people were killed during the operation that caught Guzman, who has twice escaped from prison.

Arely Gomez, Mexico attorney general, said on Friday that Guzman's contact with actors and producers for a possible biopic helped give law enforcement a new lead.

In the article published in Rolling Stone magazine on Saturday, Penn said Guzman became interested in making a movie of his life when he was inundated with requests from U.S. movie studios after his 2014 capture.

That echoes comments made by Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez, who on Friday said that the drug boss' yearning for the silver screen had helped bring him down.

"Another important aspect that helped locate him was discovering Guzman's intention to have a biographical film made. He contacted actresses and producers, which was part of one line of investigation," Gomez said.

In the Rolling Stone's interview, when Penn asks Guzman about whether he is responsible for the high level of drug addiction in the world, he responds: "No, that is false, because the day I don't exist, it's not going to decrease in any way at all. Drug trafficking? That's false."

Asked about who is to blame for drug trafficking, Guzman says: "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."