India, Sept. 18 -- The CISF recovered more than 10,000 tonnes of illegal coal during special operations conducted over the last two months to check pilferage and theft of the fossil fuel from mines in Jharkhand and West Bengal, officials said on Friday.

The Union government recently authorised the paramilitary force as the designated agency to undertake search and seizure operations under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, to check coal theft from the mines under its security cover.

In July, Union Home Minister Amit Shah directed the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to launch a 'zero coal leakage' operation against the mafia and criminals operating in these areas to pilfer and steal the precious energ...