Nine people have been found in the back of a lorry travelling on the London-bound carriageway of the M20 motorway, Kent Police says.
The force said it was called at 3.40pm on Wednesday to reports of people in the back of a lorry and officers attended the London-bound carriageway between Junctions 9 and 8 where the lorry was stopped.
Nine people are being checked as a precaution by the South East Coast Ambulance Service, police said.
It comes on the same day as a murder investigation was launched after the discovery of 39 dead bodies in a lorry container in Essex in the early hours of the morning.
The group found in Kent will then be passed to Home Office immigration officers.
Five miles of congestion built up on the westbound side of the motorway which was closed while police responded to the incident.
One lane of the London-bound carriageway has since been reopened.
A Kent Police spokesman said: “Nine people are now being checked as a precaution by the South East Coast Ambulance Service before they are passed to Home Office immigration officers.”