Concerns over Israeli access to BlackBerry data and the use of the device by the US to spy on the UAE are behind the country's moves to curb service of the smartphone, the city's police chief has said.

"The United States is the primary beneficiary of having no controls over the BlackBerry, as it has an interest to spy on the UAE. The West has accused us of curbing the liberties of BlackBerry users, while America, Israel, Britain and other countries are allowed access to all transferred data," Dubai's police chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim was quoted as saying by Arabic daily Al-Khaleej.

The UAE has announced it would suspend BlackBerry Messenger, email and Web browser services from October 11 until it could get access to encrypted messages.

BlackBerry maker RIM has 500,000 users in the country.

BlackBerry's Messenger application has spread rapidly in the Gulf where it is a popular business and social networking tool.

However, the application has come under scanner since the data cannot be tracked locally as it is encrypted and routed through offshore servers.