LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - The kidnapping of the wife of Adam Pollack, a friend and adviser to Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, could be an effort to weaken Peru's fragile democracy, the country's vice president said on Wednesday.

"This is part of an effort to destabilize the nation," Vice President Raul Diez Canseco told CPN radio, adding that the kidnapping of Pollack's wife, Mariana, was linked to the Toledo government's efforts to quash corruption in this poor nation.

Police said five hooded and heavily armed suspects pulled Mariana Pollack over in Lima late on Tuesday, firing in the air before speeding off with her by car.

"(The way the kidnapping was carried out) leads to the assumption that this was an experienced, organized group," police said in a statement, adding that they had mounted an intense search for the victim.

Diez Canseco told reporters later that the kidnappers had demanded a $3 million ransom.

According to Anel Townsend, a legislator for Toledo's Peru Posible party, Mariana Pollack had joined other Toledo supporters in 2000 protests against the hard-line regime of disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori, whose decade in power was derailed by a corruption scandal later that year.

"We cannot overlook the fact that there are still groups operating that are linked to (Fujimori or his ex-spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos) and they could be behind this crime," she told reporters. "This possibility -- which I believe is highly likely -- needs to be investigated."

Fujimori, in self-exile in Japan, faces corruption and human rights abuse charges, which he denies. Montesinos, a top adviser alleged to have been the power behind Fujimori, is jailed on charges ranging from murder to money laundering. He says he acted on Fujimori's orders.

PRIEST OFFERS HOSTAGE SWAP

Toledo has promised to prove that public officials can be trusted, despite the fact that some were tarnished by the scandal and to usher in an era of clean government in Peru. Scores of officials, military brass and businessmen are now jailed on corruption charges.

Adam Pollack is a confidant and longtime friend of Toledo, the U.S.-trained economist who took office in July. According to officials, he is an unofficial adviser but holds no government post.

"I have asked the president and the police not to get involved and that they leave us alone. I want them to respect that wish," Pollack told RPP radio.

Father Martin Sanchez, a priest who heads the Catholic Hogar de Cristo charity where Mariana Pollack volunteered, said he had spoken with the suspects, who told him she was well.

He said that he was also threatened by the kidnappers and that he was offering to negotiate or serve as a hostage swap himself. "I must respond and ... my response is 'Here I am.' If I can save a life, I am ready to be a mediator or to replace (Pollack)," he told CPN radio.

Toledo stumbled since he took office; his popularity sagged to near 15 percent and a wave of marches and strikes from the poor and jobless erupted across this Andean nation.

Robberies and burglaries are common in Peru's sprawling, chaotic capital; however, kidnappings of high-profile or affluent people are not an everyday occurrence.

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