UPDATE 2-Huawei CFO arrested in Canada - Canada's Justice Dept

Canada has arrested Huawei's global chief financial officer in Vancouver, where she is facing extradition to the United States, Canada's Department of Justice said on Wednesday. The arrest is related to violations of U.S. sanctions, a person familiar with the matter said. Reuters was unable to determine the precise nature of the violations.

Meng Wanzhou, who is one of the vice chairs on the Chinese technology company's board and the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested on Dec. 1 and a court hearing has been set for Friday, a Canadian Justice Department spokesman said.

A representative of Huawei, one of the world's largest makers of telecommunications network equipment, declined immediate comment.

U.S. authorities have been probing Huawei since at least 2016 for allegedly shipping U.S.-origin products to Iran and other countries in violation of U.S. export and sanctions laws, sources told Reuters in April.

The U.S. Justice Department probe is being run out of the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, the sources said.

Officials for the U.S. Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn also declined to comment.

The news comes the same day Britain's BT Group said it was removing Huawei's equipment from the core of its existing 3G and 4G mobile operations and would not use the Chinese company in central parts of the next network.

(With inputs from agencies.)