This is the moment a notorious gang leader is forced from his hideout behind a false wall by heavily armed police.

Gang boss Carlos Alfredo Alvarenga Medina, - known as 'Muerte,' or Death to his enemies - had been lying low behind the tiled wall in Santa Ana, in western El Salvador, on August 14.

The wall looked like a normal kitchen or bathroom wall until the police realised part of it was hollow and hid a secret compartment inside.

They found Medina cowering in a squalid den with what appeared to be a sleeping bag and other basic necessities.

In police footage of the arrest, Medina is seen crawling out of the entrance flap on all fours earlier this month.

As assault-rifle-toting National Civil Police order him to put his hands on his head Medina squats on his haunches and is then handcuffed, bare-chested, revealing his gang tattoos.