A Polish man detained at Vancouver International Airport Sunday said he asked a customs officer several times to tell his waiting aunt and uncle what happened to him.

But Pawel Marach said each time the officer told him it wasn't her problem.

It was several hours before his aunt and uncle, Wes and Bozena Abramowicz of Kamloops, B.C., found out he was being detained on suspicion he had come to Canada to work. Marach was never allowed out of the airport until he was put on a plane to London, England two days later.

It was the second time Marach, 28, was denied entry into Canada by customs officers. An official who thought he was here to find a job barred him at the airport last month.

In a telephone interview from London, Marach said he was told then that he needed proof he is employed as truck driver in London in order to be let into the country. He says when he arrived at Vancouver airport Sunday night with his passport, proof of employment, and a return ticket good for six months, a customs officer accused him of lying.

"Her first words were why was I lying to her,"' he said. "Believe me, I was a little bit afraid."

Officers took his wallet, cellphone, belt and shoes and led Marach to a room where he was interviewed for more than two hours. They refused to tell him why they thought he was lying, he said.

Marach said he was furious at the treatment and fought to remain calm. He said he thought about Robert Dziekanski and didn't want to provoke anybody. "I didn't even give them a chance to see me angry," he said.

Dziekanski died after being jolted with an RCMP Taser after spending several hours apparently lost at the airport in October 2007.

Unable to find Marach at the airport, the Abramowiczs drove back to Kamloops and phoned the Polish Consulate and the office of Conservative MP Cathy McLeod. Someone from one of those offices contacted the airport, and Marach was allowed to phone his uncle and tell him what happened before he was put on a plane back to London.

McLeod has recruited Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews to look into Marach's case. She said it doesn't matter why the Polish man was detained, his aunt and uncle should have been told about it.

Don Ehrenholz, vice-president of operations for the Vancouver Airport Authority, said staff paged Marach and looked for him, but by the time they learned he was being detained, his aunt and uncle had already been told.