Picture shown is for illustrative purposes only.

Two inmates who escaped from a prison in Rome last week left guards a courtesy note, saying they had business to take care of but would be back shortly, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

The two cousins, Davad Zukanovic, 40, and Lil Ahmetovic, 46, broke out of Rebibbia prison overnight on June 2 by scaling a wall using a water hose left in a courtyard.

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But before they escaped, they left a note in their cell explaining they had personal reasons for needing to flee, said the Repubblica daily.

They were driven by "the need to protect their children from a nasty business they had got themselves into," the daily said, paraphrasing the contents of the letter.

The inmates specified that only they could make things right, as their wives were also both in jail.

At the end of the signed note, Zukanovic and Ahmetovic promised to return in about 15 days once everything was sorted, the paper said.

The men were serving sentences until 2029 for non-violent crimes, including fraud and receiving stolen goods.