Police converged on the derelict business – formerly home to Adrian’s Trophies – about lunch time, working until late afternoon to remove about 240 cannabis plants in six rooms of the building.

The sophisticated cultivation set-up was the third to be uncovered in Wollongong’s southern suburbs in the past two weeks.

On September 30, police seized about more than 1000 cannabis plants worth about $2.4 million from a massive hydroponic set-up in Port Kembla.

Five men were arrested in the early morning drug bust that netted 570 hydroponic plants in a factory on Flinders Street. Hundreds more were found at a second site, on Doyle Street in Unanderra, with about 1200 plants and 110 kilograms of cannabis leaf seized overall.

The five men, aged 44, 41, 28, and two aged 24, were charged with the cultivation of a large commercial quantity of cannabis.

Wollongong Detective Inspector Brad Ainsworth said Wednesday’s operation on the Princes Highway at Unanderra was not linked to the earlier findings.

“While the hydroponic indoor cultivation is similar, it’s not connected we don’t believe,” he said.

“We’ve found approximately 200 cannabis plants in six rooms. The only thing missing is the actual drying rooms.”

He said the plants found on Wednesday would be sorted and disposed of by police.