High-energy neutrons produced as a consequence of proton acceleration in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can carry a substantial fraction of the initial luminosity outside of the central source. Part of this luminosity is expected to go into VHE and UHE γ-ray emission as a result of hadronic interactions of these relativistic particles with the accreting plasma. We find that the most efficient emitters will be AGNs with luminosities ~0.01 - 0-1 of the Eddington luminosity.