LOS ANGELES, California, United States?US socialite and paparazzi darling Paris Hilton was arrested in Las Vegas on charges of cocaine possession, but released shortly afterwards, local police said Saturday.

"Police stopped a black Cadillac Escalade outside the Wynn Hotel about 11:30 p.m. Friday, because officers believed someone inside was smoking pot, and officers found an unspecified amount of cocaine in a purse of Ms Hilton's," Las Vegas police spokesman Marcus Martin told AFP.

She was arrested on cocaine possession charges. Hilton's spokeswoman Dawn Miller did not respond to questions for comment.

Her lawyer, David Chernoff, said Hilton was released early Saturday.

"This matter will be dealt with in the courts not in the media and I encourage people not to rush to judgment until all of the facts have been dealt with in a court of law," he said in a statement.

Citing sources close to the socialite, entertainment website TMZ.com reported that Hilton plans to argue that the purse in which police found the cocaine did not belong to her.

It has been an eventful few months for Hilton, 29, who was briefly detained by police in July on the French island of Corsica after being caught with less than a gram (.04 ounces) of cannabis in her handbag.

Hilton was also arrested during the World Cup in South Africa after a friend who accompanied her took a joint to the Brazil-Netherlands quarter-final match in Port Elizabeth.

She also hit the headlines last week after a 31-year-old intruder, reportedly armed with a knife, tried to break into her Hollywood home, allegedly hoping to hoping to rob the wealthy heiress.

Hilton, the great-granddaughter of the Hilton hotel chain's founder, shot to fame in 2003 when her boyfriend leaked a video of their sexual escapades on the Internet. She also starred in the reality TV series "The Simple Life."