Police access to BlackBerry messages to thwart planned riots

Police thwarted planned riots by using intelligence gained from BlackBerry messages. Photo: Amer Hilabi/AFP/Getty Images

Scotland Yard stopped attacks by rioters on sites across London of hours before they had been carried out in accordance with the regime to "break into" encrypted social messaging sites, it has emerged.

Attacks on the OLYMPICS, the shops in Oxford Circus and the two Westfield shopping centre, in the East and West London, had been plotted by BlackBerry using Messenger (BBM).

Detectives made breakthrough shortly before the planned attack after scouring pastes mobile phones of people who had been arrested during the riots.

It gave them access to messaging, scheduling, riots and looting, and bouncing around the service heavily encrypted BBM.

But it also gave met other information, which means they were able to use details experiences from the confiscated phones to give officers '' live time monitoring "of the BBM and also Twitter.

By last Monday afternoon, they were able to monitor BlackBerry messaging and send extra officers to disrupt the planned attack, which may have heightened the sense of threat felt by Londonernes.

This Tuesday, police , revealed they had been considering switching away from social messaging sites including BBM and Twitter.

Testified before the MPs on the Committee on Internal Affairs, the acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Tim Godwin, said police discovered they do not have legal powers to do it, adding: "we found searching the legal authority to extinguish it. Legality is dubious, very dubious. "

He said that as well as social messaging sites are used to plan the riots, they were a useful "intelligence asset" for the police, who were able to monitor them.

Last Monday, police chiefs sent officers to thwart the planned attack on the Olympic site at Stratford, east London. Shops in the area closed even after the "intelligence" produced by social messaging sites of conspiracies to riot.

He said police did not "at this point in time" ask the Government for new powers to turn off social messaging sites during outbreaks of extreme disarray.

This week, need the guardian revealed that the Government had drafted in MI5 Security Service and the eaves dropping Centre at GCHQ joins the hunt for them with social messaging to plot riots and work out how BlackBerry messaging could be "broken" in the future, and in real time if.

Godwin told MPs begin their investigation of the riots, David Cameron had been wrong to tell Commons last week that his officers had been too cautious when confronted with rioters and looters.

Confirming that he would apply for the next Commissioner of the met, he said: "I do not believe the men and women of met was hesitant, which is an accusation that has been directed to us."

Sir Hugh Orde, President of the Association of Chief Police officers, said in his evidence that the police had no outrageous riots would break out.

"We are so fundamentally different in my assessment, was almost non-existent pre-intelligence. This was a spontaneous rather than organized, "he said.

Police Chiefs once again rejected the Government's allegations, it had quelled the unrest by ordering a huge wave of officers on the street.

Godwin said he made the decision last Monday evening after it became clear officers were still being buffer overrun, as riots hit 22 of the 32 boroughs in London. Market economy treatment, Britain's largest force, needed help from 30 other forces.

Orde told the politicians they legally had no role in the creation tactics. "If politicians want to make tactical decisions, they must take responsibility and change the law for that to happen," he added.

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