Footage has been released of marines firing their way into a property as they searched for the world's most wanted drug boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.

Guzman, head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, had been on the run since July, when he tunnelled out of a maximum security prison in Mexico.

On January 8th, marines barged into a house in Los Mochis, Sinaloa where he had been holed up.

Lured in by Guzman's henchmen, they used guns and grenades in a frantic battle to find him - unaware he was escaping through a secret doorway hidden below a mirror in an upstairs bedroom.

The doorway led Guzman to a tunnel and drains under the Mexican city, where he ran for more than a mile before a build-up of rainwater in the drains forced him to emerge.

By then, he had managed a 90-minute headstart on the marines, who eventually discovered the lever for the secret doorway hidden in the light of the dressing room.

During the raid, marines found two women in one of the home's five bathrooms, one marine was injured and can be seen lying on the floor in the footage, and blood and bullet holes spatter the walls.

The marines busted through two doors in the house to find 15 of Guzman's gang armed with machine guns and rocket launchers. Five of the hitmen were killed in the shootout.

In a downstairs bedroom, they found flatscreen TVs and a sofa littered with injectable testosterone, antibiotics and condoms.

Extradition proceedings have begun against Guzman, formally started by Mexico in a strong sign that it intends to send him to the US.

But it is understood this process could take more than a year.