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The Japanese president of a controversial company controlled by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church was kidnapped in Paraguay along with his secretary, police said on Monday.

Kidnappers demanded 250,000 dollars to release Hirokazu Ota, 62, the president of Victoria S.A., and his secretary, also a Japanese national, police said.

They also seized a policeman and his girlfriend who by chance witnessed the kidnapping in Caaguazu, about 200 kilometres east of the capital.

The secretary was identified as Sawako Takayama, but reports in Japan gave her family name as Yamaguchi.

The two were travelling from Ciudad del Este on the Brazil border to Asuncion when they were seized.

Victoria manages land assets in Paraguay owned by the South Korea-based Unification Church, and has sparked controversy for several years for buying up thousands of hectares in the Chaco region in the country's center.

Deputy police commander Pedro Mendez said they suspect that the kidnappers could be part of a gang which nabbed several people in the Ciudad del Este region in March.

"They have all been identified," he said.

Japan's Kyodo news agency reported that the Paraguay police have arrested several people in connection with the case, but said it is not known whether the abductees are safe.

In Tokyo a Japanese foreign ministry official declined to comment on the case "due to its sensitive nature."

Ota has been engaged in activities of the Unification Church for about 10 years both in Japan and Paraguay, Jiji Press said.