THE Home Office is to be investigated by the equality watchdog over claims of unlawful discrimination after a wave of raids uncovered 130 illegal immigrants, including 24 at Scottish restaurants.

Indian, Bangladeshi, Thai and Chinese workers were put in detention centres awaiting deportation after the UK Border Agency (UKBA) turned up at premises in Tobermory on Mull, Glasgow and Grantown-on-Spey among raids across the UK.

Fears have been raised that some people have been targeted purely on ethnic grounds, a claim strongly denied by the Home Office, which insists the operations were intelligence-led.

But the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is to probe spot checks at transport hubs and Whitehall's controversial "go home" posters on mobile advertising vans.

Twelve people, including two women, from Bangladesh, China and Thailand were arrested at three restaurants on Mull.

The Crystal Palace Chinese restaurant in Tobermory was targeted just as its daytime trade was under way in the bustling tourist town on Thursday.

The workers were taken away after a plain white van containing UKBA officials pulled into the Main Street, best known for its colourfully painted houses.

One hotel worker said she was returning from work when she saw two restaurant waiters sitting in the back of the van parked in a side street. She criticised the raids, adding: "These waiters are well known in Tobermory and have been here on and off for around six or seven years. They are really great boys and everyone knows them."

Another Tobermory resident, who asked not to be named, added: "The men who were taken away have been here quite a long time and are popular within the community."

In Glasgow, six illegal male workers from India were arrested at three restaurants. Six others from Bangladesh and India were arrested at a fish-and-chip shop in Grantown-on-Spey.

The Government's campaign saw posters displayed on billboards carried by vans in London warning: "Go home or you'll be picked up and deported."

New Labour peer, Doreen Lawrence, who is the mother of racist-murder victim Stephen Lawrence said: "I'm sure there are illegal immigrants from all countries but why would you focus that on people of colour? Racial profiling is coming into it."

Simon Woolley of Operation Black Vote said spot checks, immigration raids and the adverts were "pretty crass" on their own but, taken together, amounted to something more sinister. He said it gave "a nod and a wink to the bigots to harass and intimidate people".

The union Unite is consulting lawyers over the poster campaign which its leader Len McCluskey denounced as a "vile" stunt.

Immigration Minister Mark Harper insisted the spot checks were "not racial profiling" but were based on intelligence.

He said: "I'm confident we have robust rules to make sure we're not discriminating against people under the law."

He added: "We will be able to show to the EHRC's ­satisfaction that we haven't been discriminating."

But Tory MP Peter Bone said if operations were intelligence-led, most of those stopped would be of white central European origin as that was where most illegal trafficking emanated from. "Anything that can be done to stop that sort of thing must be welcomed by everyone," he said.