LEWISTON – Suspicious military-style canisters left in a mall parking lot turned out to be filled with sand, not explosives.

Police evacuated the Lewiston Mall and surrounding area Wednesday and shut down side streets while investigating two 4-foot tubes painted olive drab, each about 8 inches in diameter, with military-style numbering on their sides.

Members of the Maine State Police Bomb Squad dressed in Kevlar protective gear inspected the containers and determined they were not a threat about two hours after the evacuation started.

Local police were alerted at about 9:30 a.m. by someone who saw the tubes lying in the parking lot outside the former Ames department store at the corner of East Avenue and Pleasant Street, now ACS Inc., a business processing and information technology firm, according to the company’s Web site. Both of those streets were closed and traffic was rerouted.

Access to Shaw’s Supermarkets, across East Avenue, was blocked from allowing incoming customers.

Police Chief William Welch said no threats were called in and no one took responsibility for the containers. They might have fallen out of a pickup truck that was using them for traction over the winter, Welch said.

Police took standard precautions, treating the unknown objects as though they could be bombs just to be on the safe side, he said.

“We’d rather err on the side of caution,” Welch said. “Obviously, if those things were explosives and they went off, there’s the potential here for a lot of people to get injured.”

Because the objects were “certainly out of place” and resembled “military stuff,” Welch said it triggered an emergency response.

“Things have changed since 9/11,” he said. “It’s scary.” Even in central Maine, law enforcement needs to take potential threats seriously.

“People didn’t think the terrorists were going to fly through Portland, either,” he said. But they did.

Despite the false alarm, the event had an effect on traffic and area businesses, police said.

It took emergency personnel away from other calls, including a nearby apartment fire.

Scott Andrews, manager of Planet Fitness, which sits next to ACS, said he, his employees and about 10 customers working out at the time were paid a visit by police.

“They told us we had to get out,” Andrews said.

They first hiked down to CVS pharmacy, and were moved again to Staples, across Lisbon Street, he said.

Andrews said he took the opportunity to run some errands. Some members who turned up to work out had to wait, but the disruption didn’t hurt businesses much, he said.

Welch said police will continue to investigate who left the tubes and why. If it was done intentionally, there may be some follow-up charges, he said.

Bomb squad members walked to where the tubes were lying on the pavement, away from the cars parked in the mall lot. They lowered themselves onto hands and knees, inspecting the objects. They set up a tripod equipped with a water canon that knocked the caps off the ends of the tubes, said Lt. Michael McGonagle. That would relieve pressure inside the tubes in the event they had been filled with explosives.

Police said anyone with information about the tubes should call 795-9000, extension 230, and ask for Detective Brian O’Malley.