Bernardo Rivera Paz, who is also a journalist and attorney, was abducted on Saturday by four armed men who grabbed him as he reached his coffee farm in Proteccion, a village in the western province of Santa Barbara, police said in a brief statement.

Rivera was going to the farm to pay his workers, Honduran media reported.

The former congressman was spirited away in his vehicle, which was found later in the Petoa region of Santa Barbara, police said.

A Tegucigalpa radio station, meanwhile, reported that the former congressman, who once served as transportation director in Santa Barbara, was killed by his kidnappers.

The killing has not been confirmed by police.

Rivera left journalism to become a lawyer and focus on his political career.

More than a dozen people, including two brothers rescued Friday by police in the Caribbean province of Atlantida after a month in captivity, have been kidnapped this year in Honduras.

In 2008, according to officials, about 80 kidnappings were reported in the Central American country.