A plastic detergent bottle found Monday evening near 18th Street and Euclid Avenue at the University of Colorado was deemed harmless after a multi-hour probe by a bomb squad and hazardous materials team.

Shortly before 10 p.m., CU Police Department spokesman Scott Pribble said the scene was cleared, and that hazmat had determined the substance inside the bottle to be neutral.

It’s unclear, though, what exactly was inside the bottle, Pribble said.

“When they did a sampling of it, it came up as something that was neutral,” he said. “It was not something that was a hazard, but the computer system was not able to identify it specifically. … If it had been (detergent), the computer would have identified that.”

The bottle was first reported around 5:30 p.m., Pribble said, in campus lot 204, across from Wardenburg Health Services.

Pribble said that the bottle inspired a major response — police, fire, ambulance, bomb squad and hazmat officials were all on scene — because “there were wires near the plastic bottle that were suspicious enough that we decided to bring in the (crews).”

The bottle was found near a pay kiosk in the parking lot, and bomb squad robots and personnel could be seen working in the area of the kiosk Monday evening, as curious students passed by foot on Broadway and tried to see what was going on.

No members of the public were allowed close to the scene as police taped off a wide perimeter around the bottle.

Police did not order any evacuations of nearby dorms or campus buildings, and did not sound out any alerts.

“We determined the buildings were far enough that this would not endanger people,” Pribble said.

Alex Burness: 303-473-1389, burnessa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com /alex_burness