Supermodel Naomi Campbell was released on bail pending investigation into a disturbance on a plane at Heathrow's new Terminal 5, police sources said Friday.

The 37-year-old model was escorted off a US-bound flight Thursday after police were called. She was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, and later released to return on bail in late May.

Campbell was on a British Airways flight due to depart for Los Angeles when the disturbance occurred.

Her spokeswoman said that one of two bags she had checked in had gone missing.

"BA decided to resolve this by insisting she leave the flight and then called the police to forcibly eject her from the flight," police spokeswoman Scotland Yard said.

"She was taken to the Heathrow Police Station and released on police bail. So far as we are aware, BA has still failed to offer any explanation as to why her bag went missing at Terminal 5."

BA has been beset by problems with the high-tech check-in and baggage handling systems at the 4.3 billion pound (US$8.53 billion) terminal.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled and tens of thousands of bags have gone missing, costing the airline about 16 million pounds since the terminal's opening last month.

It is not the first time Campbell has been in trouble with the law.

She spent five days mopping floors as part of a community service sentence in New York last year after throwing a mobile phone at her housekeeper during a row over a pair of jeans.

She was also ordered to attend anger management classes.