 Devananda and other PLA members were given military training by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.On returning to Jaffna Devananda was put in charge of all of the EPRLF's military activities in Sri Lanka.On the night of 10 May 1984 the PLA, on the orders of Devananda, kidnapped newly-wed Ohio couple Stanley Bryson Allen and Mary Allen from their home Beach Road, Gurunagar, Jaffna.