World Notes INDIA

Under ordinary circumstances, a missing check might attract little notice. But the aggrieved party was Mother Teresa, the gentle Nobel Peace laureate, and the money involved was a donation to support her work with children in Calcutta's slums. Indian police soon homed in on the mail-sorting office at Calcutta Airport. There they found a ring systematically filching check- stuffed envelopes addressed to the nun, and sending them to accomplices in Hong Kong and Singapore to be cashed or stashed in bank accounts.

To date police have traced $150,000 in stolen funds and arrested six people, but the investigation is far from complete. "It is a terrible thing," said Mother Teresa. "Many of the donors are small children who save money and send it to feed hungry children."