London’s finest claim they are fighting an uphill struggle against rioters who have employed BlackBerry messaging to organize their looting rampage.

While police were monitoring Facebook and Twitter for signs of potential unrest, it now appears that rioters resorted to BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) to plan their activities. BBM is free to use and it features encryption, making it difficult for police to intercept the messages.

However, BlackBerry maker RIM has already contacted London police, offering to assist the ongoing investigation. Scotland Yard claims it will manage to track down users who posted inflammatory and inaccurate messages on the service. CNN claims that messages inciting violence and falsely reporting murders at the hand of the police were circulated on BBM yesterday.

RIM gear has been a darling of businesspeople for years, now it has gained traction in the looter community as well - looters use it to steal a few TVs and game consoles in Peckham, whereas business blokes in the city use it to bring FTSE 100 down a few hundred points a day.

More here.