LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Lindsay Lohan was arrested in the Los Angeles area early on Tuesday on suspicion of drunken driving and cocaine possession, just days after she completed a 45-day rehabilitation program, authorities said.

The 21-year-old star of "Mean Girls" -- already facing a drunken-driving charge following a car crash in Beverly Hills two months ago -- was pulled over in the coastal city of Santa Monica shortly after midnight.

Police said they had received a report of a car chase and that Lohan and two companions were in the pursuing vehicle. A police spokesman said he believed the people in the two cars knew each other.

Lohan was taken into custody after failing a field sobriety test. Police said she registered a blood-alcohol level of about 0.12, well above the California limit of 0.08.

Lohan was booked on suspicion of drunken driving, possession of cocaine, bringing a controlled substance into custody and driving on a suspended license.

She was released after posting a $25,000 bond, a police spokesman said.

Just last Friday, Lohan turned herself in to Beverly Hills police to face charges of drunken driving in connection with a May 26 car crash.

In that case, she lost control of her Mercedes-Benz sports car and drove into a hedge. She then left the scene. Police said at the time they also found a small amount of what they believed to be cocaine in the car.

The incident followed months of hard partying by the actress, who had been a regular at Hollywood nightspots and attending Alcoholics Anonymous programs for a year despite having turned 21 -- the legal age for drinking in the United States -- only this month.

Immediately after the crash in May, Lohan checked herself into a Malibu rehab centre for the second time in a year. She left earlier this month and now wears an alcohol monitoring bracelet on a voluntary basis, her spokeswoman said.