Police in Scotland are making inquiries after complaints over a Twitter outburst about Ebola by the controversial TV personality Katie Hopkins.

Hopkins was berated online after she wrote on the site about “little sweaty jocks”, adding: “Sending us Ebola bombs in the form of sweaty Glaswegians just isn’t cricket.”

In a separate message, she tweeted: “Glaswegian ebola patient moved to London’s Royal Free Hospital. Not so independent when it matters most are we jocksville?”

Police Scotland confirmed it was looking into complaints it had received but did not reveal how many had been made. DI Glyn Roberts said: “We have received a number of complaints regarding remarks made on Twitter. Inquiries are ongoing into the nature of these tweets and to establish any potential criminality.

“Police Scotland will thoroughly investigate any reports of offensive or criminal behaviour online and anyone found to be responsible will be robustly dealt with.” PA