Authorities say the secret meeting helped locate the drug lord's whereabouts.
Sean Penn's secret meeting with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman apparently is what led police to locating the drug lord.
Mexican law enforcement officials told the Associated Press on Saturday that the contact Penn and producers had with the fugitive for a possible biopic is what helped them track Guzman's whereabouts and recapture him.
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The actor and Guzman purportedly met in October 2015 in a rural part of Durango, Mexico, where police began following the drug trafficker, who they eventually arrested over 400 miles to the northeast in Los Mochis, Sinaloa. On Saturday, Rolling Stone released an interview that Penn conducted with Guzman, along with a photo of the Oscar winner shaking hands with the drug lord.
When asked if he thinks he's reponsible for drug addiction in the world, Guzman said, "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."
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Guzman was arrested six months after he escaped from prison for a second time. The arrest was made after a shootout that left five people dead.
ABC News reports that Penn and Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, who reportedly helped set up the meeting, are under investigation. ET reached out to Penn's rep about the interview, but he has no comment at this time.
Meanwhile, the actor showed up to his 5th Annual Sean Penn and Friends Help Haiti Home Gala, benefiting J/P Haitian Relief Organization, on Saturday night in Beverly Hills, California. His ex and good friend, Madonna, and her children, David and Mercy, were among those in attendance.
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